US's tactic to distract Syria when launching airstrikes

After the US accused Syria of chemical attacks on civilians and threatened a military response, the US destroyer USS Winston Churchill arrived in the Mediterranean, where the US has another destroyer, USS Donald Cook. These two ships carry more than 90 Tomahawk missiles - the main weapon used in the attack on Syria on April 14 but did not participate in the operation.

A source close to White House planning said the ships were part of a US strategy to distract Russia and Syria, according toSCMP.

In fact, the US ships involved in the attack were the cruiser USS Monterey and destroyer USS Laboon in the Red Sea, the destroyer USS Higgins in the Persian Gulf and the submarine USS John Warner in the eastern Mediterranean. They fired 66 Tomahawk missiles at Syria.

In addition, two US B-1 bombers at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar fired 19 AGM-158 JASSM missiles. In coordination with the US, a French frigate launched three SCALP missiles from the eastern Mediterranean. British Tornado and Typhoon aircraft taking off from Akrotiri base in Cyprus fired eight Storm Shadow missiles.

The US said French Mirage and Rafale fighter jets fired nine SCALP missiles. The French Ministry of Defense confirmed that Rafale jets had taken off from its base but did not provide specific details about the Mirage.

At a Pentagon press conference on April 14, US General Kenneth McKenzie described the 105 missile attack by the US and its allies as "precise, powerful and effective"; it hit three targets that the US coalition said were related to chemical weapons in Syria.

He said Syria launched about 40 surface-to-air missiles in response, but most were fired after the US and its allies had already hit their targets. “The Syrian response was ineffective,” McKenzie said.

Meanwhile, Russia said that Syria had intercepted 71 missiles from the US and its allies with its Soviet-era air defense system.A research center in Barzeh district, Syria, was one of the targets attacked,They asserted that they only developed antidotes and did not possess chemical weapons.

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) began their investigation mission today in Douma, where the West said the Syrian government used chlorine and sarin gas, killing dozens of people on April 7. Syria denied the accusations and stressed that it would create the best conditions for the international organization's experts to work.

Phuong Vu