Russia claims to have destroyed US warships and planes attacking Syria

Russia warns of retaliation if US attacks Damascus and Eastern Ghouta

Media reports said that the US is looking for an excuse to attack the Syrian Army (SAA) to prevent the SAA's offensive campaign against terrorist organizations and US-backed 'moderate opposition' groups, currently linked to terrorism in Eastern Ghouta, Damascus area.

The Russian General Staff has made an official statement about the US saying it is ready to attack the Syrian government if the United Nations fails to reach an agreement forcing the Syrian Army to cease fire in the 'pot of stew' Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus.

On March 13, General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army, told reporters about the US plan to bomb Damascus. According to him, the US intends to use provocations by militants in Eastern Ghouta as a pretext to attack the Syrian Government headquarters in the capital Damascus.

According to him, Russia has reliable information that 'moderate opposition' gunmen and 'humanitarian', 'human rights' organizations and Western media are planning to stage a "chemical attack by Government forces against civilians".

To serve this plot, they have forced Syrian civilians from other places to some areas of Eastern Ghouta, including many women, the elderly and children, who will be forced to play the role of "victims" of the incident with chemicals "thrown by the Syrian government" - the Russian general said.

According to him, at the locations planned as "the stage of the play", there were members of the humanitarian relief group "White Helmets" operating, along with a film crew carrying enough equipment for the "online television broadcast of the crimes of the Assad regime" via satellite.

The Russian general said that after this provocation of "the play", the Western media would quickly be flooded with this information and the United States would immediately accuse Damascus of using chemical weapons and present "irrefutable evidence" of civilian casualties caused by the actions of the Syrian Government, with "the support of the Russian leadership".

Mr. Gerasimov pointed out that, in response, Washington launched a missile attack and bombed the Government headquarters area in Damascus. This surprise attack could be aimed at destroying the brain of the Assad regime. At the same time, the US will also attack the Syrian Army forces in Eastern Ghouta.

However, the head of the Russian General Staff warned the warlike heads of the Pentagon that in the capital Damascus and its vicinity there are now Russian military advisers, representatives of the Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties and Russian military police.

He warned sternly that, "in case of a threat to the lives of our advisers and soldiers, the Russian armed forces will retaliate and destroy the missiles as well as the means of carrying them" - General Gerasimov emphasized once again that Russia was not joking in this matter.

On March 12, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced that the United States was ready to attack the Syrian government if the United Nations could not reach a consensus for a ceasefire agreement in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.

Nikki Haley made the warning during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Earlier, the US delegation presented a draft resolution demanding that the Syrian Army stop its attacks on 'moderate opposition fighters' in Damascus and surrounding areas.

She reiterated that the US attack on the Shayrat airbase in Syria's Homs province, which the US accused of being the location where the Assad regime's aircraft took off to launch a chemical attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun (in Syria's Idlib province), also stemmed from the "inability of the UN Security Council to decide on action".

"We also warn any country that seeks to impose its will through chemical attacks that result in suffering for civilians, especially those linked to the Syrian regime," the US representative warned the Damascus government, "The United States is ready to act if necessary."

“This is not the path we wanted, but it is the path we chose. And we are prepared to choose it again,” Haley said at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on March 12.

The US representative also accused Russia of violating the ceasefire in Syria, failing to prevent the Assad regime from using chemical weapons in settlements and now becoming "a tool of the Assad regime", or worse, "a lackey of Iran".

Will Russian Su-35 and US F-22 confront each other in Syria over East Ghouta?

Russia responded to America's heated statements not only with words but also with real actions. Moscow decided to dispatch more warships carrying Kalibr missiles to the Mediterranean Sea, ready to deal with the worst-case scenarios.

According to the latest information, the Russian heavy missile frigate "Admiral Essen" equipped with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles is on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, the head of the information support department of the Black Sea Fleet, Captain Vyacheslav Trukhachev, said on March 13.

According to the Black Sea Fleet's rotation plan, the Admiral Essen for the first time in 2018 departed for the Mediterranean Sea, far from the Fleet's main base, to carry out its mission. On the way, the ship practiced firing at sea and air targets; destroying simulated enemies with Kalibr-NK missiles.

Analysts believe that the arrival of heavy missile frigates equipped with state-of-the-art missile systems to the coast of Syria is a reminder from Russia that if the US uses warships in the Mediterranean to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles into Eastern Ghouta or Damascus, Kalibr missiles with a range of 660km on warships like the "Admiral Essen" will be ready to sink these ships.

If the US uses fighter jets at airports inside and outside Syria to bomb Eastern Ghouta and Damascus, Su-35S, Su-30SM fighter jets and S-400, Buk-M2 or Pantsir air defense systems will be the weapons to shoot them down.