Posted on 04/20/2017 11:12:03 AM PDT by drewh
Syria has moved all its fighter aircraft to the Russian Hmeimim air base in Latakia three weeks after 59 US Tomahawk cruise missiles knocked out one-fifth of its air force at the Shayrat base, in retaliation for a chemical attack on civilians in Idlib.
This was reported Wednesday night, April 19, by the Pentagon. The Russian high command in Syria has its seat at that base.
Military sources report that the Syrian air force will operate henceforth under Russian protection and behind the advanced Russian S-300 and S-400 air defense shield without fear of US reprisals.
President Vladimir Putin’s response to the Trump administration’s call to distance Moscow from the Assad regime is therefore a rejection. He is instead fortifying Russian support for that regime.
The upsurge of Russian-US military tension places at risk the operational coordination accords prevailing between the air forces of Russia, the US and Israel in Syrian skies.
Syrian operational staff officers working in Hmeimim will now have access to the advanced Russian surveillance instruments tracking the movements of all foreign aircraft moving through Syrian air space.
Syrian intelligence officers will also be close to Russian SIGINT facilities which the Russian spy agency GRU has installed there.
In other words, by a single move, the Russians have substantially upgraded the Syrian air force’s operational and intelligence capabilities.
How does this affect the Syrian and Iranian air freight traffic ferrying military supplies from Iran? Where will they deliver their cargoes? Will they too be allowed to land at the Russian base in Latakia?
If they are, the Israeli air force will be prevented from cutting down the flow of Iranian weapons for Hizballah. The new move more or less buries the Russian-Israeli agreements covering Syrian skies.
The Pentagon disclosure came ironically just hours after a senior Israeli military officer confidently informed military correspondents in Tel Aviv that the mechanism introduced for Russian-Israeli air force coordination in Syria had been successfully adopted by other nations operating in Syria, such as Turkey and the United States.
He reported that the arrangement included reciprocal visits once every two months by heads of the operations divisions of the two armies. These visits will probably go the same way now as the entire arrangement.
People used to put [DEBKA] in the title.
Still a good idea IMO.
and presumably the Russians will control any “CW” attacks from the Syrian AF since they were blamed for not controlling them
and presumably the Russians will control any “CW” attacks from the Syrian AF since they were blamed for not controlling them
And what happens when the MSM decides to discover that it was ISIS that rigged the sarin gas bomb. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. That wouldn't make much difference to the MSM.
Could happen.
no fly zone coming?
The brilliant “all eggs in one basket” strategy.
No fly zone?
That would certainly not be the shock of a lifetime.
The Trump moves in Syria have been an absolute Public Relations triumph. No doubt about that.
But do they help us defeat ISIS?
I wonder if they don’t hurt more than help. And I wonder if Steve Bannon didn’t get himself in trouble recently by making that very argument to Trump before losing the argument to Mr. And Mrs. Ivanka.
WE ARE AT WAR! Might as well get used to it and quickly get our military up to speed.
Not good for Assad. Not good for Russia.
Bannon made up with Jared and Ivanka, I guess the POTUS ultimatium worked...
Good. Now maybe we will stay out of a war that John McCain so desperately wants.
No doubt.
f l a k e . n e w s
This would make safe zones more likely. All military aircraft would have a Russian source.
The Russkies cannot deny knowledge of any future chemical warfare attacks. Bug or feature?
Nothing happens in a vacuum and when coupled with Russia’s recent decisions to buzz the coast of Alaska it almost seems like they are thumbing their noses at us.
But all the eggs are now stored in a protected basket as opposed to a vulnerable basket before.
We will not tomahawk Latakia unless we want war with Russia.
The Russian and Syrian jets are safe for now.
Who’s your daddy? ping
I guess those Tomahawks worked on the runway after all.
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