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[Sergarr]

Remember how satellite images of the airfield after the attack showed it being essentially untouched?

Spoiler: untouched airfield (click to show/hide)

The airstrip itself is completely undamaged and Assad's forces had enough forewarning to remove the aircraft and most of their support equipment and supplies before the attack. So some replaceable outbuildings were damaged, what does that matter? It's not doing to do jack shit to stop the base being used.

Taking out those "replaceable outbuildings" has made the pace of aerial operations from the base to drop by 90% compared to previous days and it will not return to previous levels without major reconstruction. Also, as it has been pointed out multiple times, the attack's point was to warn Assad of the danger of violating the USA's world order, not to destroy and annihilate his forces. Which USA totally could do, by the way.

[Frumple]

Though even any damage actually related to the air base itself is of questionable import. Not like there's not more of the things, and even if the at-most ~4% of the air force the US claims was hit was actually key parts of the air force, it would have left a few hundred other planes of various sorts floating around. As most seem to be noticing and stating, this was either a political statement (of one sort or another), or it was a failure on all instead of just most fronts.

That said, you might be happy to learn much of the discussion wasn't about whether it was moral or just to stop the attacks in this manner, FD. More of it's been back and forth on whether the attack itself was worth a damn to one extent or another. Basically exactly what you came in to talk about :V

[MrRoboto75]

50 tommahawks was probably still cheaper than trump's weekly golfing trip.

[Flying Dice]

Remember how satellite images of the airfield after the attack showed it being essentially untouched?

Spoiler: untouched airfield (click to show/hide)

The airstrip itself is completely undamaged and Assad's forces had enough forewarning to remove the aircraft and most of their support equipment and supplies before the attack. So some replaceable outbuildings were damaged, what does that matter? It's not doing to do jack shit to stop the base being used.

Taking out those "replaceable outbuildings" has made the pace of aerial operations from the base to drop by 90% compared to previous days and it will not return to previous levels without major reconstruction. Also, as it has been pointed out multiple times, the attack's point was to warn Assad of the danger of violating the USA's world order, not to destroy and annihilate his forces. Which USA totally could do, by the way.

Right, because all the previous "We really mean it this time!" token gestures have done so much.

[Frumple]

I mean... for what it's worth, and what little it may actually mean, it does look like activity at the particular airbase is down fairly noticeably. Apparently some folks out there that's been tracking and reporting flight activity.

... from what I've noticed (only so much, cause other than noticing it exists I haven't really looked at it and what I did was skimmy enough I could have totally been misreading), they're still putting out several dozen flights per day, though. Just down a dozen or three, too. Don't have nearly the gaf right now to hunt down links, though. Bit under the weather and all that.

[Strife26]

Remember how satellite images of the airfield after the attack showed it being essentially untouched?

Spoiler: untouched airfield (click to show/hide)

The airstrip itself is completely undamaged and Assad's forces had enough forewarning to remove the aircraft and most of their support equipment and supplies before the attack. So some replaceable outbuildings were damaged, what does that matter? It's not doing to do jack shit to stop the base being used.

Taking out those "replaceable outbuildings" has made the pace of aerial operations from the base to drop by 90% compared to previous days and it will not return to previous levels without major reconstruction. Also, as it has been pointed out multiple times, the attack's point was to warn Assad of the danger of violating the USA's world order, not to destroy and annihilate his forces. Which USA totally could do, by the way.

Right, because all the previous "We really mean it this time!" token gestures have done so much.

Yes, because they didn't involve blowing up Syrian government stuff. That's kind of what a show of force means.

[Greiger]

They could be parking the planes out in a field and setting up a bunch of laptops and portable short range radar antennas to keep the place still running.  There are airstrips in alaska that are just a long strip of dirt semi-regularly cleared of debris.

That things can still take off and land there isn't all that surprising.  But I'll bet that maintenence capability, rearming and refueling capability was significantly reduced at that location.  All you need to have planes take off and land is a flat strip of asphalt.  All those other things help, and make landing safer and more efficient, but the only place you need more than a long strip of asphalt to land a plane is an aircraft carrier.  And smaller planes don't even need the asphalt bit.

I'm half suspecting them landing and taking off planes is simply a show.  Operations are pretty clearly crippled.  They may be at most be able to refuel planes there.

[martinuzz]

Russia and Iran have issued a joint statement that 'the US has crossed a red line'. Any further attacks by the US on Assad targets will be retaliated against with violence, by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/moskou-en-teheran-amerikanen-hebben-rode-lijn-overschreden~a4484918/

[TheBiggerFish]

Ahhhhhh shit.

[martinuzz]

That Nikki Haley tart should have shut da fuck up with her 'remove Iranian prescence from Syria' comment.

[Greiger]

That these countries want to defend Assad shows that they are no better than him.  The rest of the world should be acting to smack them down as well then.

Naturally that's not going to happen because world leaders will happily claim to fight the good fight and then conspicuously be absent when it comes down to it.

No I don't think I'm advocating for world war three.  But if the rest of the world puts their money where their mouth is there won't be one.  They'd sit down and shut up.

[martinuzz]

Meanwhile IS is laughing. The Belgian minister of Defense has already announced, on behalf of the Western coalition, that coalition forces have seized operating over Syria, since Russia cancelled the deal that guaruanteed their safety from Russian and Syrian aircraft operating in the same airspace.

[Greiger]

Maybe russians shouldn't be there in the first place then.  I say the western coalition extend the same courtesy.   There is no point to peace if atrocities are being done in the name of that 'peace'.  If the russians don't want to stop Assad from gassing his own people, they need to get the fuck out of the way.   

If the bear wants to lay down in the middle of a firefight and act as cover for one side they are going to get poked, and then shot.  How many more civilians are going to be gassed just because we're afraid of pissing off russia who happens to be perfectly happy to get in our way at every turn.

[martinuzz]

There's no point in ending a limited bloodbath in a contained region if that would start a global war killing 100 times as many

[TheBiggerFish]

Meanwhile IS is laughing. The Belgian minister of Defense has already announced, on behalf of the Western coalition, that coalition forces have seized operating over Syria, since Russia cancelled the deal that guaruanteed their safety from Russian and Syrian aircraft operating in the same airspace.

*ceased?
*guaranteed