Thread: U.S. launches missile strikes in Syria

President Trump ordered a military attack against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, joining allies Britain and France in launching missile strikes in retaliation for what Western nations said was the deliberate gassing of Syrian civilians.

The coordinated strike marked the second time in a year that Trump has used force against Assad, who U.S. officials believe has continued to test the West’s willingness to accept gruesome chemical attacks.

Trump announced the strikes in an address to the nation Friday evening.

The assault followed repeated threats of military action from Trump, who has been moved by civilian suffering to set aside his concerns about foreign military conflicts, since the reported chemical attack that killed civilians in the rebel-held town outside Damascus last weekend.

The operation capped nearly a week of debate in which Pentagon leaders voiced concerns that an attack could pull the United States into Syria’s civil war and trigger a dangerous conflict with Assad ally Russia — without necessarily halting chemical attacks.

Both Syria and Russia have denied involvement in the attack, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov alleged had been staged.

The episode is the latest illustration of the hazards arising from a conflict that has killed an estimated half-million people and drawn in world powers since it began as a peaceful uprising in 2011.

The attack raised the possibility of retaliation by Russia or Iran, which also provides military support to Assad, threatening in particular to increase the risks facing a force of 2,000 Americans in Syria, as part of the battle against the Islamic State. While the United States has not been at war with the Syrian government, U.S. troops often operate in proximity to those from Iranian- or Russian-backed groups.

In the wake of last weekend’s gruesome attack, some U.S. officials advocated a larger, and therefore riskier, strike than the limited action Trump had ordered in April 2017, also in response to suspected chemical weapons use.

That attack involved 59 Tomahawk missiles fired from two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea. It fulfilled Trump’s vow that chemical weapons are a “red line” that he, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, would not allow Assad to cross. But the airfield targeted by the Pentagon resumed operations shortly after the attack and, according to Western intelligence assessments, chemical attacks resumed.

Assad’s defiance has presented Trump with a choice of whether to make a larger statement and incur a larger risk this time. Planning for these strikes focused on ways to curb Assad’s ability to use such weapons again.

Risks of a wider attack include the possibility of a dangerous escalation with Russia, whose decision to send its military to Syria in 2015 reversed the course of the war in Assad’s favor. Since then, Russia has used Syria as a testing ground for some of its most sophisticated weaponry.
“Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ ” Trump tweeted Wednesday, referring to U.S. missiles.

That took military officials by surprise. But on Thursday, Trump said he did not mean to suggest missile strikes were imminent.

“Never said when an attack on Syria would take place,” he tweeted. “Could be very soon or not so soon at all!”

A larger strike, possibly including stealth aircraft and strikes on multiple sites, could inflict lasting damage to military facilities and economic infrastructure that have been vital to Assad’s ability to gain the upper hand in a seven-year civil war.

Since last year’s strike, multiple chemical attacks have been reported in opposition areas, most of them involving chlorine rather than the nerve agent sarin, as was used in 2017, suggesting the government may have adjusted its tactics.

Among the chief factors military planners must consider are air defenses in Syria, which were bolstered by Russia’s decision to enter the war in 2015 and could pose a threat should the Pentagon employ manned aircraft in the attack. Their reach was demonstrated in February when an Israeli F-16 fighter jet crashed amid Syrian antiaircraft fire.

The United States has flown an array of aircraft over Syria since it began strikes against the Islamic State in 2014, but those operations have mostly steered clear of government and Russian activities. The Assad regime has not authorized the U.S. operations, but it also has not tried to shoot down American aircraft.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.b521e982b6b7

The empire extends at a furious pace....

...Trump, who has been moved by civilian suffering...

I bet he's beside himself.

Syrian State TV is reporting that Syrian Air Defense was responding to "the American, British and French aggression against Syria."

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/liv...us-trump-syria

they are really drunk on power, and don't realize they have blood on their hands for starting it all

I bet the whole point in Syria, like it was in Vietnam when the US was losing big, is not to be humiliated by a Russian victory on thr ground

absolutely crazy, and we wonder how world wars start

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

they are really drunk on power, and don't realize they have blood on their hands for starting it all

I bet the whole point in Syria, like it was in Vietnam when the US was losing big, is not to be humiliated by a Russian victory on thr ground

absolutely crazy, and we wonder how world wars start

The US was never loosing in Vietnam.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

The US was never loosing in Vietnam.

of course, that's why you had to flee like little girls

oh I forgot, the Washington Post made you lost the war

I agree. I remember Tricky Dick's famous (post ass-kicked) pretentious statement "we now desire only peace, .........with honour" plea, to the Vietnamese people. Embarrassing, to say the least.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

The US was never loosing in Vietnam.

Won every major battle, knobbled by its own people, between sad and pathetic.

But a great war record since, showed determination after Beirut by absolutely overwhelming the Grenadan rowboat.

U.S. launches precision strikes on Syrian chemical facilities

Friday evening, the United States launched missile strikes on Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack brought by Assad's regime on Syrian civilians. President Trump said the strikes were carried out in cooperation with Britain and France.


In a briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, along with British and French counterparts, announced that three targets in Syria were "struck and destroyed." All of which were specifically associated with the Syrian regime's chemical weapons program.


https://www.axios.com/united-states-...07ecd840a.html

US is incapable of actually winning a war, esp in the ME region. Lots of quality toys and propaganda, but too many people to please and politicians would never risk allowing the military to determine strategy.

Originally Posted by jabir

Lots of quality toys

A veritable golden shower of them.

Quagmire

Originally Posted by misskit

U.S. launches precision strikes on Syrian chemical facilities

How kind of them to bomb "precisely"... (something like Clinton in Belgrade?)

Originally Posted by uncle junior

Quagmire

they fucking love it, don't they ?

Originally Posted by bsnub

President Trump ordered a military attack against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday,

That's very kind from the Pentagon people that they want to help POTUS with his approval rating...

People in Thailand! Stop the Songraan splashing small kids.
Otherwise somebody could claim they were "likely highly" affected by chemical weapons...

Oh nice. 2 threads same subject.

^Too much TD hate for the US for just one thread. Could have named the posters before they even posted.

nothing to do with hate, not sure why you need to be so simplistic about it, as usual

it's about rogue actions being taken by a country, actions that need to be denounced and chastised for being shameful, on the top of being illegal

let's hope TRUMP fix all this, in his usual way

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

it's about rogue actions being taken by a country, actions that need to be denounced and chastised for being shameful, on the top of being illegal

I presume you're talking about a country that uses poison gas on its own people......

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I presume you're talking about a country that uses poison gas on its own people......

Davis, you don't know at all about this, nobody does,

so repeating conveniently what your "masters" tell you just to reassure your "ordinary" ego doesn't make it the truth

what matters is respect for others sovereignty and not acting like a fucking teenager on drugs, which is what the US has been doing for the last 30 years

The British are certainly guilty as being drunk hooligans too, but they have been like that since the beginning of age, that's why they have become isolated and nothing at the end

this will be the same for the US, eventually, alone and with no real influence

China and Russia are the next games, it's already done, you guys haven't realized it yet, hence why you need to send missiles randomly on false pretense

Game over USA, join the UK club of world losers

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

Davis, you don't know at all about this, nobody does,

so repeating conveniently what your "masters" tell you just to reassure your "ordinary" ego doesn't make it the truth

what matters is respect for others sovereignty and not acting like a fucking teenager on drugs, which is what the US has been doing for the last 30 years

The British are certainly guilty as being drunk hooligans too, but they have been like that since the beginning of age, that's why they have become isolated and nothing at the end

this will be the same for the US, eventually, alone and with no real influence

China and Russia are the next games, it's already done, you guys haven't realized it yet, hence why you need to send missiles randomly on false pretense

Game over USA, join the UK club of world losers

If if nobody knows about this ,what qualifies you to speak.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I presume you're talking about a country that uses poison gas on its own people......

Highly unlikely Assad gassed his own civilians. IF, a big IF he did use chems, it was with Putin's knowledge and consent against a far greater threat to the west than Assad could ever be. But skittish leaders more concerned with ratings than wog lives have serially blundered so catastrophically that they can no longer tell who is on which side and who prays daily for their death, often with their own training and weapons and patronage.

IF Syria is ever saved from becoming an Islamic state, another big IF, it will be no thanks to anything the US and Europe have done in the region. And stand by for more fun when the EU army becomes a reality and a new batch of unelected political controllers try to show the world how dumb a warrior nation can be.

Interesting times.