Guardian: British Warplanes in Cyprus Preparing for Syria Strike
Local Editor
In a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against Syria, the Guardian British daily reported that "warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving at Britain's Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast."
Two commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca on Monday told the Guardian that they had seen C-130 transport planes from their cockpit windows as well as small formations of fighter jets on their radar screens, which they believe had flown from Europe.
According to the daily, "If an order to attack targets in Syria is given, Cyprus is likely to be a hub of the air campaign."
"The arrival of warplanes suggests that advanced readiness - at the very least - has been ordered by Whitehall as David Cameron, Barack Obama and European leaders step up their rhetoric against Damascus," it added.
In parallel, the daily presented a map for the likely targets in Syria to be hit by the warplanes.
It also highlighted that "to punish Syria, the Western allies will probably concentrate their fire on the regime's greatest strength - the elite units."
Another likely target is Syria's Republican Guard, which is, according to the report, deployed around the presidential palace and in the Qasioun military complex to the north of the Syrian capital.
"Much will depend on whether the chosen option is a strictly limited strike with a handful of cruise missiles, intended as demonstration of intent, or a more complex, further-reaching campaign involving waves of stealth bombers," the Guardian added.
However, the daily noted to the possibility that the US, Britain and their allies are likely to wait until the UN team has compiled its report and left Syria before carrying out any air strikes.
It also warned that "the longer, more complex military option threatens to drag the US, Britain and their allies into a more open-ended conflict."
Source: The Guardian, Edited by website team
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