SYRIA thread

[Husar]

What does the location of the explosion tell us about who fired the missile anyway?

And I find it hard to believe that this was done by a trained radar operator because I'm pretty sure they could differentiate a commercial airliner from an attack aircraft. You know, the airliner is quite a bit LARGER and may also fly in completely different patterns, at different heights, etc.

It all hints towards a barely trained crew of amateurs with itchy trigger fingers. Like a bunch of redneck separatists eager to score a kill...

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Air strikes as predicted. Source

[Husar]

As predicted?

I'm sure I saw some people say he's going to hit some backwater air field and the article says:

As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus.

I don't think Damascus is some insignificant place in the Syrian countryside.

[HopAlongBunny]

3 targets, apparently chosen for connection with chemical attacks and lack of nearby civilians:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43762251

USA, France and UK all participated. Russia is reportedly "not amused".

The start of WW3? Well some thought the Middle-East would light the fuse. Can either of the strong leaders (Putin/Trump) bring themselves to back down?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

We won't fire at Russians on purpose or first.

Nor would we be the first to use a WMD.

Russia isn't foolish enough to think they could win such a war.

So WW3 is hyping it a lot.

[Fragony]

Don expect anything, but nothing good can come from it either. It is better to keep relationships relatively normal

[HopAlongBunny]

So WW3 is hyping it a lot.

Yes
OTOH, it strikes my sense of whimsy to think a pissing contest between Trump/Putin would be the spark.

[Fragony]

Yes
OTOH, it strikes my sense of whimsy to think a pissing contest between Trump/Putin would be the spark.

Nah Putin is going to go for being the most resanable stateman, that isn that hard a role to play

[Sarmatian]

We won't fire at Russians on purpose or first.

Nor would we be the first to use a WMD.

Russia isn't foolish enough to think they could win such a war.

So WW3 is hyping it a lot.

Yeah, but mistakes can happen.

Although it appears that the sites were empty or mostly empty.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Of course mistakes can happen. But it would take a series of mistakes, followed by escalation, with NOBODY pulling back and saying 'hey wait a moment.'

Possible yes, but not probable at all.


Now, if we were in pre-World War One mode, with everyone looking for an excuse, then it might happen. Heck, even Europe worked through the war scares of 1905 and 1912 before they decided not to pull back from the brink in 1914, and they were primed for it.

[Montmorency]

We won't fire at Russians on purpose or first.

Nor would we be the first to use a WMD.

Russia isn't foolish enough to think they could win such a war.

So WW3 is hyping it a lot.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the Syrian government and its allies had "absorbed" the attack. The sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia, the official said.

"If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official said.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly said the Russians "were warned beforehand" to avoid inadvertant escalation.

Mattis, who U.S. officials said had earlier warned in internal debates that too large an attack would risk confrontation with Russia, described the strikes as a one-off to dissuade Assad from "doing this again."

Textbook posturing. Go big or go home, ya profligate bastards.

But - it almost seems like France was the driving participant in this one.

The bombing represents a major escalation putting the West in direct confrontation with Assad's superpower ally Russia,

That's quite striking. I don't think I've ever seen contemporary Russia referred to as a "superpower" in general news media before. A good question for a corporal study.

[Agent Miles]

For what it's worth:

We have a report that two Hip helicopters took off from an airbase in Damascus and flew over Douma around the time of the gas attack. We have another report that one Hip dropped one "barrel bomb". We have another report that an aircraft fired a missile at another target at a front line position near Douma. As a result, the front line and three neighborhoods were exposed to chlorine gas and possibly Sarin nerve agent. We have video taken by the rebels of innocent men, women and children suffering from the attack. What we don't have is any hard evidence of this and none has been presented. Because some of the people I would like to see burn in hell may be responsible is not a factor in finding the truth of what happened.

One barrel bomb and one missile filled with a chemical agent do not disintegrate on impact. Actual chemical tainted debris should exist. The bodies of the victims were apparently burned and buried. Hmmm... Speaking of the victims that were filmed...by the rebels, the dramatic detox although visually effective was useless. The rebels and the medical personnel should know what to do, since this has happened before (about 35 times). All the victims should be taken to an enclosed area where their clothes are removed and bagged to prevent the agent from spreading. They are scrubbed down with simple cleanser. Dumping water on their heads at the medical facility would be a real mistake as any remaining residue would just be released. The video is incredibly disturbing, if it portrays something that actually happened as described.

Most likely, Israeli sources again confirmed the attack as being from Assad's regime and not from chemicals that we know the rebels also have. Macron stated that he had proof. Syria still has a Catholic population descended from French crusaders and they may be his HUMINT source. Of course, Israeli intelligence and Catholic rebels are totally disinterested parties in the conflict (I keep forgetting, which font is it for sarcasm?). A fact-finding team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Syria on Saturday, the same day the US, UK and France carried out airstrikes against Syrian government targets. However, when JFK took us to the brink of WW3, he brought out recon pictures of the missile sites in Cuba so that there would be no question of the reason for the blockade. In this case, the horse is squarely behind the cart.

As sabres rattled, lots of well-meaning people explained how blowing up empty buildings in retaliation would change the world and make it possible for a diplomatic settlement of the civil war, allowing a Syrian George Washington to be elected. Meanwhile, the rebels are going to be brutally, viciously and mercilessly crushed with conventional barrel bombs dropped on innocent men, women and children.

Students, scholars and other useful idiots tried to bring the "Arab Spring" to Syria. Assad emptied his prisons of the people who started ISIS so that he could label the resistance as terrorists. With the help of Russia and now Iran, he was thus able to do anything he wanted against them. A hundred million dollars worth of munitions won't fix this. Syria is diplomacy's Gordian Knot, don't get me wrong. However, whenever free people refuse to find a difficult solution, then brutal dictators will always have a default solution.