A strike on Syria: what is the difference between the versions of Russia and the USA

Almost three days after strikes the United States, Britain and France on targets in Syria many details of this operation are not yet clear.

Фото: Depositphotos

About what happened on the night of April 14 in Syria, the parties involved in this operation, tell differently, moreover, their messages contradict each other, writes with the BBC.

Russia is directly involved in this story - the fact that its military was out of range of the missiles is an important circumstance of the strike. Firstly, the Americans and their allies sought to avoid this, and secondly, Russian air defense systems did not try to prevent missile attacks.

Military experts believe that now, a few days after the shelling, the two sides of the conflict - Russia with Syria and Western countries - are involved in a large information confrontation, publishing their versions of events.

Shock group

The Pentagon announcedthat the blow was dealt by American, British and French forces.

These forces included from the US side: the guided missile cruiser Monterey (30 cruise missiles), the destroyers Laboon (7) and Higgins (23), the nuclear submarine John Warner (6), 2 B-1B strategic bombers (19 cruise missiles). In addition, the Americans used support aircraft, including air tankers, electronic warfare aircraft, fighter escorts, and so on.

UK used to strike 4 percussion fighter Tornado GR.4A, which took off from the Akrotiri air base in Cyprus. Each of them fired 2 aircraft cruise missiles. In flight, the strike group was accompanied by fighters. Typhoon FG4.

France used during the raid 5 fighter Dassault Rafale, which launched air-launched cruise missiles, as well as the frigate Languedoc, which launched sea-based cruise missiles.

Russian Ministry of Defense at noon April 14 distributed detailed informational message, which did not mention either the American submarine John Warner or the destroyer Higgins. The Russian department reported that the B-1B planes used guided bombs rather than missiles, and that F-15 and F-16 fighters were involved in the strikes, which is not mentioned in American reports.

In addition, the Russian statement says that French aircraft were not used at all in the strike, and the launch of missiles from the Languedoc frigate was not reflected at all.

The Russian Ministry of Defense estimates the total number of allied missiles and bombs used in 103 units. The Pentagon has announced the use of different ammunition 105, without specifying their types.

Where did the missiles go?

The Pentagon announced that rocket attacks had hit three goals: the well-protected Chemical Weapons Development and Research Center in Barzeh near Damascus, which was called the heart of the Syrian military chemical program, the chemical weapons storage at Him Shinshar near Homs and the chemical weapons bunker in the same place.

According to the Americans, the center in the suburbs of Damascus was hit by 76 American missiles, of which 76 were ship-based and 19 were air-launched, fired from B-1B bombers. The warehouse at Khim Shinshar was hit by 22 missiles fired by the US, Britain and France, and the bunker was badly damaged by seven cruise missiles fired from French fighters.

The Russian version of the shelling differs radically from the American one. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “a number of Syrian military airfields, industrial and scientific research facilities were hit by missiles and bombs.”

In Moscow they are talking about “objects in the area of ​​​​the settlements of Barz and Jaramani.” These are different places. The settlement of Barzakh (Barzeh) is located northeast of Damascus, Jaramani (Jaramana) is located to the east.

In addition, Moscow insists that attacks were made on military airfields Duvali, Dumeir, Blai, Shayrat, Homs and the abandoned Mezze airfield.

Western sources do not report anything about the bombardment of air bases.

Who that shot down?

Shortly after the strike, the head of the main operational department of the Russian General Staff stated that the Syrian air defense had intercepted a 71 rocket. Of these, 60 flew towards the air bases. On Monday, a similar statement was made by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov.

“Four missiles were used at the Duvali airfield - all were shot down. At the Dumeir airfield - 4 missiles, all shot down. At Blay airfield - 12 missiles, all shot down. At the Shayrat airfield - 18 missiles, all shot down. At the Tifor airfield - 12 missiles, all shot down. At Mezze airfield - 2 missiles, 9 shot down. There were 5 missiles at Homs airfield, 16 were shot down,” he said.

At the same time, the Syrian air defense system used up 112 anti-aircraft missiles when repelling the attack, he said. A report from the Ministry of Defense dated April 14 said that the S-125, S-200, Buk, Kvadrat and Osa systems were involved in repelling the attacks - these are quite old systems produced in Soviet times. However, on Monday Konashenkov said that the Syrians also used the latest Pantsir S1 systems supplied from Russia.

Konashenkov separately said that Moscow was not surprised that the remaining 30 missiles were able to destroy Syrian targets.

“As can be clearly seen from space photographs distributed by Western media, these are ordinary buildings on the surface. “I would like to remind you that, for example, the warhead of the Tomahawk cruise missile, depending on the type, is up to half a ton in TNT equivalent,” he said.

On Saturday, April 14, the Syrian-based Human Rights Monitoring Center based in Britain reported on intercepted missiles. He claimed that the Syrian air defense had intercepted 65 coalition cruise missiles.

This is completely contrary to the statements of the United States, Britain and France. On the day of the strike, General Kenneth MacKenzie of the Committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the United States Armed Forces stated that not a single missile or plane was shot down by the Syrians, and Russian air defense, according to the US, were not involved.

At the same time, the general said that the Syrians began to release their anti-missiles after the shelling.

“And when you throw a piece of iron into the air, it will then fall somewhere,” McKenzie said.

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