BREAKING NEWS: US strike on Syria to be ‘significantly larger than expected’
ABC News: US is planning an aerial strike in addition to a salvo of Tomahawk missiles from Navy destroyers;
New York Times: Obama ordered expansion of list of targets following reports Assad moved troops, equipment.
Despite statements from both US President Barack Obama and Secretary
of State John Kerry that a US-led strike on Syria would be a “limited
and tailored” military attack, ABC News reported on Thursday that the
strike planned by Obama’s national security team is “significantly
larger” than most have anticipated. According to ABC News, in additional
to a salvo of 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from four Navy
destroyers stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, the US is also
planning an aerial campaign that is expected to last two days.
This campaign potentially includes an aerial bombardment of missiles
and long range bombs from US-based B-2 stealth bombers that carry
satellite-guided bombs, B-52 bombers, that can carry air-launched cruise
missiles and Qatar-based B-1s that carry long-range, air-to-surface
missiles, both ABC News and The New York Times reported. ”This military
strike will do more damage to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s forces
in 48 hours than the Syrian rebels have done in two years,” a national
security official told ABC News. Meanwhile, Obama has directed the
Pentagon to expand the list of potential targets in Syria following
reports Assad’s forces have moved troops and equipment used to employ
chemical weapons in anticipation of the US-led strike against them,
the Times reported on Thursday.
In
order to degrade Assad’s ability to use chemical weapons, the list of
50 or so major sites has to be expected, officials told
the Times. Targets include military units that have stored and prepared
the chemical weapons, as well as headquarters who ordered the attacks
and units who carried them out. Other targets include rockets and
artillery that have launched the attacks, the Times quotes military
officials as saying. US military chief of staff Martin Dempsey said
targets would also include equipment used to protect the chemicals – air
defenses, long-range missiles and rockets. The attack would not target
the chemical stockpiles in fear that doing so could cause catastrophe.
In Washington, US lawmakers questioned the possible price tag of a
military operation in Syria. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told
Congress on Wednesday the military operation is expected to cost “tens
of millions” of dollars, according to AFP. This estimate is based on the
assumption the military intervention in Syria would only last a few
days. A single Tomahawk missile costs $1.5 million, while keeping some
ships in the area would cost millions more, Navy chief Admiral Jonathan
Greenert said on Thursday, but those numbers are “not extraordinary at
this point.” In addition to the four destroyers the US Navy currently
has stationed in the Mediterranean, aircraft carrier Nimitz and
accompanying warships are ready at the Red Sea in case they are
needed. The carrier strike group costs up to $40 million a week if the
aircraft on board are engaged in combat-related flights, while routine
operations cost $25 million a week, Greenert said. The Jerusalem Post
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