strategic-culture | On March 17, the Russian General Staff warned about an imminent attack on Syria. The statement did
not elaborate. Of course, some information is classified but an
independent and impartial analysis of publicly available information
leads one to the same conclusion. Let’s look at the facts.
There
are warships deployed by US Navy in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and
the Persian Gulf. They are ready to launch roughly 400 long-range
Tomahawks against a target in the Middle East on any given day.
Sea-launched cruise missiles were used to strike Syria in April.
Anything that is at all related to the military operations on the island of Diego Garcia in
the Indian Ocean is hush-hush information, but it’s an open secret that
the strategic bombers based there can launch at least a hundred cruise
missiles and then use other high-precision munitions in a follow-up
attack. On average, one bomber carries 20 AGM-86 ALCMs.
Five bombers are believed to be normally stationed on this island that
is off-limits to inquisitive outsiders. This means that at least 500
cruise missiles can be fired on short notice.
On March 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared that
Great Britain, France, and some additional countries besides the US had
special forces operating in Syria that were engaging the Syrian Army
directly. But it’s not just commandos.
It was reported on
March 16 that the UK would be stationing a significant number of troops
at the US-controlled Al-Tanf military base, adjacent to the Iraqi
border. This facility is prominently eatured
in NATO’s war planning in Syria. It blocks the corridor linking Iran to
Lebanon via Syria and Iraq. The size of the deployment — about 2,300
troops accompanied by tanks and helicopters — is too significant just to
be intended to fight Islamic State militants who are already on the
run.
