Has anyone seen or heard of the damage done to the Syrian air base?

[Thomas Hurt]

because I would like to know what our profligate use of 50 or 60 tomahawks got us for a ROI.

Also, since Donnie (Mr. I don't talk about what I am going to do militarily) warned the Russians, how much did he give them to warn Assad. Because we all know that Russia would do so.

[rzemanfl]

1. CNN on line has some video. Extremely unimpressive.

Could be fake. Who knows?

[janx]

5. What was the original source of the video? n/t

[rzemanfl]

9. Apparently Russian and/or Syrian TV. n/t

[janx]

18. They would be interested in downplaying it, I think.

We'll have to look for more.

[rzemanfl]

19. How would we get video from Syria? n/t

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Return on Investment was a nice little distraction for Trump.

And a chance to pretend to America he's not actually Putin's puppet.

And if he's lucky, a 5 point boost in his approval ratings.

[WoonTars]

3. That's a very good question. Unless the $84 million worth of high tech flash-bang caused real...

...operational damage...it was all mostly for show. The best way to make that happen would have been to bomb the runways, right? Have we seen any evidence of that?

[exboyfil]

7. I have heard the runways are intact

Advanced warning makes me think that the pilots, aircraft, and command and control staff are all comfy and secure.

Maybe munitions stores, jet fuel, and radar installations were taken out. Our analysts really need to be on the air hammering how much we should expect to see for $100M of munitions.

[WoonTars]

8. The whole 'advanced warning' thing kind of gave it away...

....He tells his buddy Putin,Putin tells his puppet Assad...no-body gets hurt, the US primetime tv viewers get breathless updates on military action, and Dump finally gets to play war president...

Wag the dog from beginning to end.

[HAB911]

4. Unless 50 jets were destroyed, it was worthless

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Russia was given prior warning, so Assad would have been informed.

Any jets that could fly were probably evacuated to some other airfield.

They'll be back after the new concrete cures.

[lapfog_1]

12. possibly as many as 6 were destroyed

that apparently couldn't fly because of being in the hangers for repair.

MSNBC is showing the concrete hangers with what looks like marks from a fire on the front. tomahawk dropped in through the top and blew up whatever was in them and started a nice fire.

Runways reportedly not damaged (and if they were, it wouldn't take much to make them operational again).

My guess is that the air base is back in operation in a week or less. Fully functional in maybe 6 months (with help from Russia).

Stored chemical munitions in bunkers there... who knows... maybe destroyed, maybe not, maybe nothing there by the time of the strike.

[womanofthehills]

16. I saw the number 6 on some international news

and one site said five people killed, another said 6 - civilians and military.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Probably any airbase has some partially dismantled aircraft

pulled off the line for routine maintenance. So, easy targets.

I don't know if it would be a good idea to target a chemical weapons bunker or not. I don't know if they're stored in "ready" condition or if they are components that have to be mixed before added to artillery shells or bombs.

Anyway, I think the strike was "less-than-proportional", but more than I would have liked. It seems we should let Congress decide what our objectives should be, what "win" should look like, other than replacing one crazy regime with another or with nothing at all.

[Javaman]

14. +1000.

runway damage can be quickly repaired.

it's all bullshit.

[womanofthehills]

17. Not much runway damage - a lot of debris on runway

[onecaliberal]

10. Didn't crater either runway from what I've read at foreign press main runway intact.

Russian equipment unharmed. Assad can continue unabated, this did zero for the people of Syria.

[uponit7771]

11. RT Showed vids of 1. Main Runway intact, 2.) Aircraft still intact, 3.) Empty bunkers hit

and some potholes in front of them.

Pentagon announces Russia was notified in advance of airstrikes

M$M leaving that out of their narative

[TheBlackAdder]

13. Whatever it is, we'll send $10 Billion over there to replace it. Of course, $7B will go missing.

[sarisataka]

15. I watched the videos on CNN

from Russian sources. It appears they are plausibly taken at Shayrat AB.

Here is what I noted:
-runways intact, small catering this is what I would expect to see, runways are tough targets to seriously damage and Tomahawks are not a good choice.
-damage to several runway access points better target, it keeps the planes from getting to the runway. downside is the same as runways, without specialized weapons damage is light and easily repairable
-superficial damage to aircraft shelters again expected given weapon used. the shelters are designed to protect against such an attack and worked as advertised
-aircraft parked in open untouched in was difficult to tell from the drone video but is appeared they were older aircraft. while not prime targets, they could be used in attacks and as they were unprotected were freebies. I would have hit them

What I did not see on the video was any images of control, repair, refueling or weapon storage sites. Unsurprising that this footage is not shown as that is where the real damage can be done and would help determine how long the base may be at reduced capability.

Overall I wold say this was a symbolic strike, not an effort to inhibit Syria's ability to use chemical weapons except via a potential threat of future strikes.

[LeftInTX]

21. I guess it wasn't too bad

Link to tweet

[oasis]

22. Is suspect minimal damage. That's why Russia never deployed interceptors.

Putin knew he needn't waste valuable munitions just to counter Trump's "dong" and pony show.