There's an angle I missed from an earlier post -- the angle of attack. Read:
A Defense Department official said Israeli jets had struck at least one target in northeastern Syria last Thursday, but the official said it was still unclear exactly what the jets hit and the extent of the bombing damage.
Now I can read a map well enough to tell that Israel borders Syria's southwest tip. So how'd those plane get all the way to Syria's northeast? Did they fly over Turkey? Did they come in over Iraq, via Jordan? Both seem unlikely to me. Most likely, those IAF fighters took the direct route, all the way across Syria, and never once worried too much about Syria's Russian-made air defenses.
Come to think of it, Iran uses the same equipment...
Why wouldn't they come over the Mediterranean? Granted that only gets them to the north around Aleppo and doesn't solve the issue of crossing the country laterally, but at least it bypasses Damascus and the Golan border, which is likely where the air defenses are strongest.
thats the IAF for ya, the biggest distributor of MIG parts in the middle east.
I can has effective countermeasures?
Crank: Latakia and Aleppo ain't exactly AAA- or missile-free zones.
True. But I assume Bashar's probably assembled his best stuff around saving his own ass.
Can't recall where, but I saw a comment earlier today to the effect that Turkey is asking Israel pointed questions about an Israeli afterburner that landed in Turkey that day.
remember, when we spanked libya a while back, pilots ingressed to the east of tripoli, at low altitude, then flew a big loop semi cricle until they were ready for their target run on a course of due north. they hit tripoli and immediately egressed feet wet.
they did this because it is easy to catch the radar operators sleeping. but once the attack happens, they will be alert.
so the real question is not how they got in (i like the over water til latakia, then fly west route) but how they got out!
once the attack happened, syria would presumably be looking for them.
i can't believe they flew over iraq. syria would scream bloody murder if we had any tangible hand.
syria's silence speaks volume to turkey's involvement. i would look at a violation of turkish airspace for a exit route.
