A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[Peter Lemkin]

The most dramatic event of September 2013 was the high-noon stand-off near the Levantine shore, with five US destroyers pointing their Tomahawks towards Damascus and facing them the Russian flotilla of eleven ships led by the carrier-killer Missile Cruiser Moskva and supported by Chinese warships. Apparently, two missiles were launched towards the Syrian coast, and both failed to reach their destination.

It was claimed by a Lebanese newspaper quoting diplomatic sources that the missiles were launched from a NATO air base in Spain and they were shot down by the Russian ship-based sea-to-air defence system. Another explanation proposed by the Asia Times says the Russians employed their cheap and powerful GPS jammers to render the expensive Tomahawks helpless, by disorienting them and causing them to fail. Yet another version attributed the launch to the Israelis, whether they were trying to jump-start the shoot-out or just observed the clouds, as they claim.

I saw a similar report too Keith, but I have to say I'm still bemused by the whole thing.

It would be fascinating and intriguing and a complete game-changer if this report were true. But I can't help but wonder if it is?

I knew there were Russian warships present - which included four landing ships, one destroyer, one frigate - and these were later added to by the Moskva, a cruiser, an additional frigate and landing ship. Not exactly battle force projection, in my totally inexpert opinion. And Putin apparently stated that the vessels were there to protect Russian "national security interests" and not as a threat to "other nations" (whatever that may mean?).

What about the Chinese ships though? Well, actually "ship" not ships. It's an amphibious dock landing ship (see HERE ).

Whereas the US 6th Fleet is a really powerful force, with one or more aircraft carriers, each one accompanied by six cruisers an destroyers, plus a sub Task Force and upto 175 aircraft. Not to mention cruise missiles. If the US were committed to attacking Syria, I doubt that these Russian and Chinese vessels would ever care to stop them. But I might easily be wrong, of course. THESE are the US and NATO vessels present in the area.

For the time being I'm holding my water about this, as it strikes me another game is going on in town. One we know nothing about yet. Just a guess though.

While we don't know the true events that played out there/then....keep in mind that it can't be evaluated on a normal military chessboard or desktop battlefield...it is likely easier for the Russians to make some American missiles fail than for the US to then strike at the Russian ships [no matter how few or small]...for Russia still maintains a huge nuclear [and other] threat[s], and could revenge such an attack, if a ship were sunk or sailors harmed. Ditto the Chinese. While unlikely, I wouldn't want to place odds on the USA coming out the winner of such an event...there may well be NO winners! [you can't scrape off the burn of the 'toast' after a nuclear exchange - no matter how limited]