Trump might have given Syrian and Russian forces too much time to prepare for a strike, experts say

April 13, 2018

President Donald Trump might have given Syrian and Russian forces too much time to prepare for potential air strikes, defense experts say. "If Russia and Syria were smart, as soon as President Trump indicated early this week that an attack was possible, [Syrian President Bashar] Assad would have begun moving any and all military assets close to, or on Moscow's military bases in-country," Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, told CNBC. "This would include aircraft, helicopters, artillery and even ammunition or high-value weapons—anything you might think the U.S. and its allies might consider a target." Syria's military has re-positioned a significant amount of air assets to Russian-controlled airfields in hopes that Washington would be reluctant to strike there. According to the ISW report, Syrian aircraft located on the outskirts of Hama, Homs, and Palmyra have relocated closer to heavily-defended airfields across Syria.

"Aircraft relocated from the Seen (Sayqal), Dumayr, Shayrat, and the T-4 (Tiyas) Air Bases to the Bassel al Assad International Airport in Latakia Province, the Nayrab Air Base outside Aleppo City, and the Damascus International Airport," the ISW report states. Russian and Assad regime forces have enhanced their air defenses around Syria's capital, Damascus, and deployed short- to medium-range surface-to-air missiles to the Mezzeh Military Air Base, as well as other sites in the city. The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, a government body responsible for research and development of advanced weapons systems, was reportedly evacuated amid potential strikes. In addition, Iranian proxies have reportedly begun exiting Syria. Experts note that since Trump hinted of a potential U.S. strike against Syria, the regime has had several days to execute contingency plans ahead of the attacks. "This, in fact, could be why America has slowed its preparations for a strike — many of the best targets to stop Assad from gassing his own people might be now on Russian bases," Kazianis said.

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Hawkeye10 said:

It is not Trumps fault that we did not have assets in place ready to strike....

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Rogue Valley said:

Trump might have given Syrian and Russian forces too much time to prepare for a strike, experts say

Russian SU-35



Syrian and Russian forces have had many days to relocate military assets and strengthen defenses. Facilities for making nerve-agents and barrel-bombs have been emptied and evacuated. In addition, all evidence of a nerve agent attack at Douma has been destroyed and new evidence planted to suit the Putin/Assad narrative. This may well be the worst execution of a US military operation I've followed since the Tora Bora fiasco. Talk about leading from behind. It's all pure theater anyway. Trump and Mattis will alert the Russians to specific strike times, strike locations, and attack platforms. On the one hand, no one wants kinetic conflict between US and Russian military forces. On the other hand, a tepid US response will be viewed by Assad as carte blanche permission to continue using chemical warfare weapons since there is no significant price to pay.

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Rogue Valley said:

In Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE, the US has plenty of aircraft (including F-22 fighters and Stealth bombers). There are also ~300 Tomahawks on surface ships and a USGN submarine in the eastern Med.

Try those excuses on someone else please.

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Hawkeye10 said:

We really do not want to mess with Russia's air defense systems, and we did not have 300 tomahawks in range in the first 48 hours, we have been moving them into place.

https://news.usni.org/2018/04/09/usni-news-fleet-marine-tracker-april-9-2018

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Hawkeye10 said:

and we did not have 300 tomahawks in range in the first 48 hours, we have been moving them into place.

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Manc Skipper said:

A sane persident would have delayed his announcement not only until they were in place, but until they were in the air.

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Risky Thicket said:

There should be little doubt that President Stable Genius gave Russia and Syria too much information and plenty of time to move military assets. The only question not answered is whether Trump - who many suspect of being compromised by Putin - purposely gave Russia and Syria lead time or if President Stable Genius is so damned impulsive he cannot control himself even to the nation's detriment.

The pattern regarding Trump and all things Russian is undeniable: Russia/Putin almost always get the breaks. Almost always.

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StuPedaso said:

That about covers it. He's give Syria and Russia time to prepare and Russia a chance to "threaten" global war. When you have to shoot, shoot; don't talk.

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braindrain said:

It is rather obvious that you don't know that both the US and Russia have an agreement to notify the other prior to strikes like this in the hopes of not escalating things further then they are. Either you didn't know it just don't care because you see this as an opportunity to attack Trump. I think we both know that had Trump not notified the Russian and some of them were killed in a strike and things escalated you would be blaming him for not notifying them.

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Hawkeye10 said:

It is not Trumps fault that we did not have assets in place ready to strike because we had been focused on North Korea and because the Navy had to rededicate time to training because they had let training slip so much because we dont have the assets needed to cover the missions....the asset/mission mismatch has been building for more than a decade.

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Grand Mal said:

But it is Trump's fault he announced a strike was imminent before he had the assets in place.

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Hawkeye10 said:

It is not Trumps fault that we did not have assets in place ready to strike because we had been focused on North Korea and because the Navy had to rededicate time to training because they had let training slip so much because we dont have the assets needed to cover the missions....the asset/mission mismatch has been building for more than a decade.

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Risky Thicket said:

By Tweet? Missiles "will be coming, nice and new and 'smart.'" Three days ago when a day later the White House said "no final decisions have been made."

No. That is not the way it is done. THAT is the way misinterpretations occur. Unintended, serious and devastating events can happen as a result.

Trump has proven time and again that he does not understand that actions have consequences. He really doesn't understand.

Trump is the greatest threat to America.

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Rogue Valley said:

Trump might have given Syrian and Russian forces too much time to prepare for a strike, experts say

Russian SU-35



Syrian and Russian forces have had many days to relocate military assets and strengthen defenses. Facilities for making nerve-agents and barrel-bombs have been emptied and evacuated. In addition, all evidence of a nerve agent attack at Douma has been destroyed and new evidence planted to suit the Putin/Assad narrative. This may well be the worst execution of a US military operation I've followed since the Tora Bora fiasco. Talk about leading from behind. It's all pure theater anyway. Trump and Mattis will alert the Russians to specific strike times, strike locations, and attack platforms. On the one hand, no one wants kinetic conflict between US and Russian military forces. On the other hand, a tepid US response will be viewed by Assad as carte blanche permission to continue using chemical warfare weapons since there is no significant price to pay.

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Grand Mal said:

But it is Trump's fault he announced a strike was imminent before he had the assets in place.

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Fletch said:

It was the military that required the preparation time, plus all the chemical weapons were removed from Syria by the deal Obama made with Putin to remove them, remember? Oh thats right, Obama was a liberal so you cant criticize him. Sorry to have to be the one to point this out to you, but history didnt begin when Trump was inaugurated. Syria is the problem it is today due to the incompetence and neglect of the Obama administration. Try to post some objective facts once in a while rather than just parrot every left wing loon you find.

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PoliSciXtina said:

I voted for Obama but I have certainly criticized his foreign policy. I don't agree with what he did with respect to Syria and I think he messed up there. I think he messed up a lot of things. Unlike trump supporters, there are many Obama supporters who are able to point out and criticize when they didn't agree with Obama. I am certainly one of them. Trump supporters just love trump no matter what, he can do wrong, and they make excuses for him. I'll never understand it. It's like some weird cult who can't tell right from wrong. I voted for Obama, and I have criticized him on many issues. No President is perfect, and Obama was far from it. And quite frankly the back and forth with "trump did this, but Obama did this" coming from both the left and right is so juvenile and doesn't solve a thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Rogue Valley said:

Trump might have given Syrian and Russian forces too much time to prepare for a strike, experts say

Russian SU-35



Syrian and Russian forces have had many days to relocate military assets and strengthen defenses. Facilities for making nerve-agents and barrel-bombs have been emptied and evacuated. In addition, all evidence of a nerve agent attack at Douma has been destroyed and new evidence planted to suit the Putin/Assad narrative. This may well be the worst execution of a US military operation I've followed since the Tora Bora fiasco. Talk about leading from behind. It's all pure theater anyway. Trump and Mattis will alert the Russians to specific strike times, strike locations, and attack platforms. On the one hand, no one wants kinetic conflict between US and Russian military forces. On the other hand, a tepid US response will be viewed by Assad as carte blanche permission to continue using chemical warfare weapons since there is no significant price to pay.

Click to expand...

Rogue Valley said:

In Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE, the US has plenty of aircraft (including F-22 fighters and Stealth bombers). There are also ~300 Tomahawks on surface ships and a USGN submarine in the eastern Med.

Try those excuses on someone else please.

Click to expand...

Risky Thicket said:

There should be little doubt that President Stable Genius gave Russia and Syria too much information and plenty of time to move military assets. The only question not answered is whether Trump - who many suspect of being compromised by Putin - purposely gave Russia and Syria lead time or if President Stable Genius is so damned impulsive he cannot control himself even to the nation's detriment.

The pattern regarding Trump and all things Russian is undeniable: Russia/Putin almost always get the breaks. Almost always.

Click to expand...

Manc Skipper said:

A sane persident would have delayed his announcement not only until they were in place, but until they were in the air.

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