Base “Shirt” strike weird

Base “Shirt” strike weird

Special correspondent of “Komsomolskaya Pravda” Alexander Kots saw that the American missile attack has not made much of an impression on the Syrians.

— It lasted no more than 15 minutes, a couple dozen explosions, from which the floor was shaking under the feet, — says a teacher of school of the village Sirat Abdullah Hasim, adjacent to 7 April attacked the airbase. Thought, the terrorists burst to the base and try to grab it, but in the morning all learned on TV.

The first wounded began to bring to six in the morning, told me at a local hospital. — Mainly the military and civilians had burns and shrapnel wounds. Through our hospital ten people. Later they were taken to the hospital in HOMS.

About the dead civilian doctor heard nothing, although according to Syrian television reported nine victims, among them four children. Officially, however, these figures no one confirmed.

Huge airbase lies in a valley in the province of HOMS near the highway going to Damascus. Hangars can be seen from afar, they are like large tents in the open field, scattered in pairs at a distance from each other. The road is not visible, how much they damaged, but approaching closer to the CAT realize that your expectations are unlikely to be justified. And the glory of God. I have seen destroyed by NATO air base and a military unit. Outside can be beautiful fence and CAT with the electric-powered gate. But the inside is like after the earthquake.

Oddities I noticed, driving a triple gateway tselenkim checkpoint. Left — a broken fuel storage. Next to him — exactly the same, not the victim. Broken-down reason, the dining room, but the staff is completely untouched. Radar is really broken, but the point of the mission control function.

At the headquarters in support I get the whole General. He says well in Russian, studied in the Soviet Union in Lipetsk.

I don’t understand on what basis they picked the targets, he asks, as we drive around the whole base.

I see a whole hangars, which are fighter-bombers su-22, and around them swarmed technique. Wait until one of the aircraft, speeding on the pristine runway, off the ground. By “belly” he is suspended four bombs. Quoting General Minister of defense of Jim Mattis: “According to the Ministry of defense, the impact resulted in damage to or destruction of fuel and ammunition, air defense systems, and 20 percent of the Syrian operational aircraft. The Syrian government has lost the ability to refuel and rearm aircraft at the airport shirt, and currently use the runway useless militarily”. He in turn chuckled, remembering a couple of extra-parliamentary expressions of his Soviet youth cadets.

Vzletka’re taxiing in and round the affected hangars. I counted nine of them. To understand where were the planes, and weapons depots possible only by scattered nearby munitions. Now the airbase is a real work day. The Syrian military ammunition collected in a neat stack and rocket for rocket, bomb for bomb. Later, the bomb squad disposed of them, undermining the charges.

One of the taxiways leading to the next hangar, metres in two hundred rock-strewn with chunks of concrete. Next — inside-out torn building.

— There pulled 400 tons of explosives, — said the General. — You see that tower? Watch her blast blew a few hundred meters. Two more soldiers after the first explosion tried to hide out in the hangar, where he kept the aircraft missiles. But an American missile hit and there, blowing them to pieces.

Leg he throws the piece “Tomahawk” — some kind of block control circuits and wires. On the other hand, the marking in English. Coming to the next hangar, around which are scattered the paired containers. Coaches analysts have already managed to attribute them as containers for chemical weapons. With the same success to store Zarina you can use grandma’s cans. In fact it is air containers. And, judging by the marking, mostly under shrapnel ammunition. However, inside can be stored and various apparatus. The first of these containers showed that debunk the myth of the Ukrainian and Western “experts”, by the war correspondent of VGTRK Evgeny Poddubny. He came here after only a few hours after the attack, when the Angara river was still Smoking, and the ammunition inside exploded. After going almost all the hot spots of the last decade, he also expect to see a “lunar landscape”.

— I woke up after the first messages of news with the words “the United States struck Syria,” he told the correspondent of “KP”. — There was the figure of 59 “Tomahawk”, I knew that one airport that is more than enough. I was expecting a broken runway, all the hangars, command centers, key infrastructure buildings of the air base. But at the checkpoint we were met by soldiers of the Syrian army, who continued to serve, without panic in the eyes, without any General excitement. We missed, and we saw nine destroyed “Tomahawks” hangars. The hit was accurate, right in the middle of the roof. To my great surprise, the runway was completely intact. And this is the main object of the airbase. As the Americans did in Iraq — they destroyed the infrastructure, which allows to conduct combat operations. And airports — in the first place. I saw it with my own eyes. Here was all wrong.

The feeling ostentatious of the shot left me in Moscow. Strange choice of target, because it’s not the largest airport in Syria, confused on the way to 36 “Tomahawk” for two million dollars each — and were they all? If they were hit by the air defense system, whether Russian or Syrian in the night sky over the sea or over land would be “fireworks” tougher than Chinese New year. And having been there, I can confidently say that 59 of missiles to the airbase “Sirat” is not exactly flew. This is evident in the selective, minimal damage. In the end, the loss of six MiG-23 is not critical for the Syrian air force.

But Donald trump has corrected its internal position, which recently have been shattered opponents. Even the main hawk McCain praised the President for determination. And he decided to develop success, fighting for the sympathies of the “war party”. And sent to the Korean Peninsula aircraft carrier group. This move is bigger than questionable squandering of “Tomahawk” for $ 100 million. Against this background, a strange attack in Syria will quickly recede into the background.

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