Teaching Syrian Rebels To Shoot Down Assad’s Air Force

Defector Pilot Teaching Syrian Rebels To Shoot Down Assad’s Air Force -- David Axe, War Is Boring

But missile shortage makes his job nearly impossible.

They appear suddenly in clear blue skies, preceded only briefly by the roar of a jet engine or the chop of a rotor blade. Bombs, rockets and cannon fire shatter the earth, rebel installations and human flesh.

The warplanes and helicopters of Syrian Pres. Bashar Al Assad’s air force are the regime’s biggest advantage over the rebel Free Syrian Army. It’s the job of regime defector Col. Zeyad Haaj Abayed to erase that advantage—by training the 200,000-strong FSA to shoot down the aerial marauders.

But Abayed has very little to work with. No warplanes of his own. No radars. No large Surface-to-Air Missiles and only a handful of small, shoulder-fired SAMs. And unlike in many previous wars, it seems unlikely that the outside world is going to do anything to help the colonel in his difficult task.

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My Comment: I call this a hopeless cause. The only way to defeat Assad's air force is to strike and shut down his air fields.