The Pentagon and the Russian Defense Ministry continue to make contradicting claims over
the US-led missile strike on Syria, which took place on April 14. Following the strike, the Russian Defense Ministry said that
the Syrian Air Defense Forces had intercepted 71 missiles launched by the US-led bloc at a number of targets including airfields. Later,
the Pentagon denounced the Russian statement by saying that all 105 missiles had hit the three designated targets.
On April 16, the Russian Defense Minsitry made a new statement denouncing the Pentagon’s claims.
“The true targets of the strike delivered by the US, the UK and France on April 14 were both facilities in Barzeh and Jaramani and Syrian military facilities, including airfields,” Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on April 16.
Konashenkov added that amere thirty missiles would be more than enough for destroying the three facilities, which had been targets of the US-led strike according to the Pentagon.
“One can see perfectly well from the satellite photos circulated by the Western media these are ordinary buildings on the surface,” Konashenkov said. “I’d like to recall that the Tomahawk missile warhead is equivalent of 500 kg of the TNT depending on its type.”
“That’s why, whatever the method of computation, a mere ten missiles would be enough to destroy each of the three facilities even with account of a three-fold margin.”
The military spokesman said that the Syrian Air Defense Forces had used 112 surface-to-air missiles, including 25 Pansir missiles, to counter the US-led strike:
- Buk sytems: 29 missiles were fired – 24 targets were hit;
- Osa systems: 11 missiles were fired – 5 targets were hit;
- S-125 systems: 13 missiles were fired – 5 targets were hit;
- Strela-10 systems: 5 missiles were fired – 3 targets were hit;
- Kvadrat systems: 21 missiles were fired – 11 targets were hit;
- S-200 sysetms: 8 missiles were fired – no targets were hit;
- Pantsir-S1 systems: 25 missiles were fired – 23 targets were hit;
Konashenkov explained a poor performance of the S-200 system by the fact that it had been used in an attempt to hit aircraft.
The general went further by saying that facilities protected by air defense systems had suffered practically no damages.
“All of the four missiles fired at the Dumayr aerodrome were shot down; 18 missiles were fired at the Blei airfield, all were shot down; 12 missiles were fired at the Shairat aerodrome, all were shot down; two missiles were fired at the T-4 aerodrome, all were shot down; five of the nine missiles fired at the Mezze airfield were shot down; 13 out of the 16 missiles fired at the Homs aerodrome were shot down,” Konashenkov said.
However, he added that 25 missiles had reached facilities at Barze and Djaramani,
which were later described by the Pentagon as main targets of the attack.
Earlier, the Russian military provided
the following info about the targets and results of the US-led strike on Syria:
- Four missiles were launched at the area of the Damascus International Airport. All these missiles were intercepted.
- 12 missiles were launched at the Al-Dumayr Military Airport. All these missiles were intercepted.
- 18 missiles were launched at the Baly Military Airport. All these missiles were intercepted.
- 12 missiles were launched at the Shayarat Military Airport. All these missiles were intercepted.
- 9 missiles were launched at the Mezzeh Military Airport. Five of them were intercepted.
- 16 missiles were launched at the Homs Military Airport. 13 of them were intercepted.
- 30 missiles were launched at targets in the areas of Barzah and Jaramani. Seven missiles were intercepted.
SF recalls that according to the Pentagon’s version of the events, the US, the UK and France launched 105 missiles that hit the following targets:
- 76 missiles – “Barzah Research and Development Center”
- 22 missiles – “Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Site”
- 7 missiles – “Him Shinshar CW Bunker”
