Syria attack: US likely to launch missile attack - Times of London

Syria attack: US likely to launch missile attack
updated
Deborah Haynes, Defence Editor
April 9 2018, 9:00am,
The Times

President Trump is expected to strike the airbase from where the chemical weapons attack was launched
President Trump is expected to strike the airbase from where the chemical weapons attack was launched

The “big price” that President Trump has said President Assad’s regime will pay for the suspected chemical weapons attack will almost certainly include military action.

If it is confirmed that Saturday’s atrocity was carried about by regime forces it is likely that the United States will fire Tomahawk cruise missiles from ships at sea, aimed at the airbase from where the attack was launched, according to a senior British military source.

Such an offensive would take out aircraft at the base, including the helicopter thought to have dropped the barrel bomb on the rebel-held town of Douma, the source said.

France and the US promised a “strong joint response” to the attack after a call between Presidents Trump and Macron last night. Britain may also become involved as part of an anti-Assad coalition, though the UK would probably have to seek parliamentary approval to expand its military operations in Syria. The RAF is already using Tornado and Typhoon jets, operating out of an airbase in Cyprus, as well as Reaper drones, stationed in Kuwait, to launch airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.

Jets were on the runway at RAF Marham in Norfolk when parliament last voted on military action against the Syrian regime in 2013. However, MPs voted against airstrikes at the time. Any decision to launch strikes now would carry a greater risk than targeting Isis because if manned aircraft are used it would put US-led forces in direct conflict with the Syrian military — which is backed by President Putin — including its highly capable air-defence systems. Launching missiles from ships or submarines at sea is the least risky option as this can be done outside of the range of Syrian fire.

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee and a former foreign secretary, said that the West must be prepared to make sacrifices to reverse Syria’s “descent into hell”. Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he warned against further “episodic, ad hoc, one-off, reactive strikes or other interventions” and said that western inaction allowed Russia to act with impunity in Syria.

Jack Keane, a retired four-star general who declined a role on Mr Trump’s cabinet, said he should destroy the regime’s entire air force infrastructure. “All of that could be done in one night if we wanted to,” General Keane told the BBC. Asked how he would respond if Russian forces refused to leave Syrian airfields before a US attack, he added: “Make the strike and let them suffer the consequences . . . the Russians really don’t want to have a fight with the United States over this.”

Mr Trump authorised the launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles, fired from the guided-missile destroyers USS Ross and USS Porter in the eastern Mediterranean a year ago after the last big chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Another option this time would be to launch cyberattacks against individuals within the Assad regime who are identified as being within the chain of command that authorised the suspected chemical weapons attack, according to Johnny Mercer, a Conservative member of the defence select committee and a former army officer. Cyberweapons could be used to disrupt online financial transactions for regime officials and to turn off power.

British and US special forces could also be deployed to go after any known sources of sarin gas and other illegal chemical stockpiles still being kept by the regime.