LA Times: US Relies on Missiles in Syria Strike

Local Editor

The Los Angeles Times daily revealed Thursday that a "US attack on Syria is likely to begin at night with fiery explosions at military installations, artillery batteries and headquarters near the capital, Damascus, and other government strongholds around the country."

According to current and former US officials, "the strikes will involve dozens of cruise missiles launched from US warships, attack submarines and possibly warplanes, would probably last up to three days."

US planners expect Syria to activate its sizable air defense system once the attack commences, firing antiaircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles into the night sky in an effort to shoot down the low-flying Tomahawk missiles whizzing over buildings and mountains at more than 500 mph.

Moreover, the US daily mentioned: "The relatively brief air campaign under consideration is unlikely to inflict major damage on al-Assad's considerable conventional forces, and it would not seek to destroy dozens of widely dispersed sites where "chemical weapons" are stored."

Instead, planners at the Pentagon's Joint Staff and US Central Command, which will oversee the attack, have presented the White House with a target list that includes some of the government's most loyal military units.

But planners are also worried that, as administration officials have signaled an attack is imminent in recent days, the Syrian military has begun dispersing its forces in order to protect them, raising the likelihood that the bombardment could hit facilities and installations emptied of troops and equipment, one official said.
Jeffrey White, a former War Intelligence Agency officer and a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the US knows headquarters and barracks locations of Syria's 4th Armored Division and Republican Guard units, which may have been involved in the chemical attack.

"I think we can target their facilities right now," he said. "If they have moved, it's harder."
The Tomahawk cruise missiles that the Pentagon is planning to use have a range of nearly 1,000 miles, allowing them to be fired from US warships hundreds of miles off the Syrian coast, well beyond the range of anti-ship missiles.

Four US guided-missile destroyers - the Ramage, the Gravely, the Barry and the Mahan - are now in the eastern Mediterranean, each carrying up to 90 cruise missiles. In practice, said Christopher Harmer, a retiree Navy officer and former operational planner in the Middle East, most are probably carrying about 45 missiles. They carry a relatively small, 1,000-pound warhead.

Nuclear-powered attack submarines that can also fire Tomahawks are likely to be in the Mediterranean as well. Some submarines carry only a dozen cruise missiles, but some specially configured Ohio class subs carry up to 154 of those.

Source: Los Angeles Times