Perairan bermasalah: Garis Tentera Laut pantai Syria . . .

USS Mahan (DDG 72) (AFP Photo - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

MADAyuMadyan - Perairan bermasalah: Garis Tentera Laut pantai Syria. Potensi serangan Amerika Syarikat terhadap Syria sebagai tindak balas kepada 21 Ogos serangan senjata kimia di pinggir bandar Damsyik mendapat bahangnya pada Rabu, apabila satu resolusi menyokong penggunaan kekerasan terhadap kerajaan Presiden Bashar Assad, dibersihkan Senat Jawatankuasa Hubungan Luar Negeri pada 10-7 yang mengundi.

Presiden Obama telah memutuskan untuk menangguhkan tindakan ketenteraan sehingga sekurang-kurangnya 9 September apabila Rumah Amerika Syarikat seolah-olah keras kepala Rakyat berkumpul semula untuk mengundi bagi mengukur.

Berikutan 21 Ogos serangan Ghouta, yang mengorbankan mana-mana antara 355 ke 1,729 orang, perebutan diplomatik untuk melancarkan atau menghindari serangan tentera di Syria telah dicerminkan oleh pergerakan tentera laut di Mediterranean Timur, di luar pantai Syria.

Pelaksanaan Amerika Syarikat dan bersekutu tentera laut kapal perang di rantau ini telah dipadankan dengan penggunaan kapal perang tentera laut Rusia di rantau ini.

Walaupun kapal-kapal Barat dalam banyak kes telah dikerahkan sekiranya serangan tentera terhadap Syria mendapat lampu hijau, Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin telah berkata kehadiran tentera laut Rusia yang diperlukan untuk melindungi kepentingan keselamatan negara dan bukan ancaman kepada mana-mana negara.

Berikut adalah ringkasan perkakasan tentera laut kini mengumpulkan ke pantai Syria.

Amerika Syarikat

Tentera Laut Amerika Syarikat mempunyai 5 buah Arleigh Burke kelas peluru berpandu pemusnah di luar pantai Syria, yang mana laksamana tertinggi mengatakan adalah “bersedia sepenuhnya” terhadap pelbagai tindakan yang mungkin .

USS Ramage, USS Mahan, USS serius dan USS Barry masing-masing bersenjata dengan berpuluh-puluh peluru berpandu Tomahawk, yang mempunyai pelbagai kira-kira 1,000 batu nautika (1,151 batu) dan digunakan untuk sasaran yang tepat.

Kapal-kapal juga dilengkapi dengan peluru berpandu permukaan-ke-udara mampu mempertahankan kapal daripada serangan udara.

Pada 29 Ogos, USS Stout telah dihantar untuk melegakan USS Mahan, tetapi seorang pegawai pertahanan memberitahu AFP bahawa kedua-dua kapal mungkin kekal di kawasan itu pada masa ini.

Adm Jonathan Greenert, ketua operasi tentera laut, kepada ‘Audience di American Enterprise Institute pada hari Khamis bahawa kapal-kapal Amerika Syarikat bersedia untuk apa yang dipanggil “spektrum luas operasi,” termasuk melancarkan peluru berpandu Tomahawk pada sasaran di Syria, sebagaimana yang telah dilakukan di Libya pada 2011, dan melindungi diri mereka sendiri sekiranya berlaku tindakan balas, laporan AP.

Di samping itu pemusnah, Amerika Syarikat mungkin mempunyai salah satu daripada 4 buah kapal selam peluru berpandu di luar pantai Syria. Pada satu masa ini kapal selam yang dilengkapi dengan peluru berpandu balistik nuklear disebut-sebut. Kini, mereka mampu membawa sehingga 154 Tomahawk pelayaran peluru berpandu.

Ia juga mengumumkan pada Isnin bahawa Amerika Syarikat telah dikerahkan San Antonio USS, kapal pengangkutan amfibia, ke Mediterranean Timur.

USS San Antonio, dengan beberapa helikopter dan beratus-ratus Marin di atas kapal, adalah “di stesen di Mediterranean Timur” tetapi “telah menerima tiada tugas yang tertentu,” kata seorang pegawai pertahanan memberitahu AFP dengan syarat tidak mahu namanya disiarkan.

Pelaksanaan USS Antonio datang walaupun janji-janji dari Presiden Obama bahawa tiada pendaratan amfibia adalah dalam agenda, seperti Amerika Syarikat kononnya telah menolak mana-mana “kasut di atas darat.”

Walaupun kata-kata draf resolusi yang ditetapkan untuk dibentangkan di Dewan tidak membenarkan pencerobohan darat, kata-kata teks berpotensi membenarkan tentera untuk menjalankan operasi bukan serangan dalam Syria, termasuk mendapatkan stok simpanan senjata kimia dan kemudahan pengeluaran.

Pada hari Isnin, ia juga mengumumkan pembawa USS Nimitz super telah berpindah ke Laut Merah, walaupun ia tidak diberikan perintah untuk menjadi sebahagian daripada perancangan untuk menyerang tentera Amerika Syarikat terhad di Syria, pegawai-pegawai Amerika Syarikat memberitahu ABC News.

Kapal-kapal lain dalam kumpulan serangan adalah cruiser USS Princeton dan pemusnah USS William P. Lawrence, USS Stockdale dan USS Shoup.

Pegawai itu berkata kumpulan pengangkut serangan tidak diberikan misi, tetapi telah dipindahkan sekiranya sumber-sumber yang diperlukan untuk “memaksimumkan pilihan yang ada.”

USS Harry S. Truman pesawat pengangkut dan kumpulan serangan juga di Laut Arab utara.

Rusia

Rusia, sekutu lama Syria dan pembekal senjata utama, mempunyai pangkalan tentera laut hanya di luar negara yang terletak di pelabuhan Tartus Syria, yang telah dilaporkan telah digunakan untuk menyokong bilangan Rusia yang semakin meningkat rondaan tentera laut di Mediterranean. Walau bagaimanapun, Rusia menegaskan usaha-usaha baru-baru ini untuk meningkatkan kehadiran tentera laut di rantau ini tidak berada dalam tindak balas kepada ancaman serangan tentera Barat.

Pergerakan yang dilaporkan, banyak kapal Rusia di rantau ini yang datang daripada sumber-sumber kementerian pertahanan Rusia tanpa nama dan tidak disahkan. RT dihubungi Tentera Laut Rusia meminta pengesahan pergerakan kapal dilaporkan, adalah akan datang walaupun tiada komen.

Pada hari Jumaat, sebagai contoh, kapal pendaratan besar, Nikolai Filchenkov, dilaporkan dihantar dari bandar pelabuhan Ukraine Sevastopol untuk pelabuhan Laut Hitam Novorossiisk Rusia, dari mana ia akhirnya dijangka mencapai pantai Syria, sumber yang memberitahu Interfax News agensi.

“Kapal ini akan membuat panggilan di Novorossiisk , di mana ia akan mengambil di atas kapal kargo khas dan berangkat ke kawasan yang ditetapkan tugas pertempuran di Mediterranean timur,” kata sumber itu.

Agensi berita RIA memetik sumber yang tidak dinamakan pelaut senior sebagai berkata pada Jumaat bahawa kapal frigat, Smetlivy , akan meninggalkan untuk Mediterranean pada September 12-14, dan Shtil korvet dan Ivanovets bot peluru berpandu akan mendekati Syria pada akhir bulan ini.

Nastoichivy pemusnah Rusia, yang merupakan armada perdana Baltik, juga dijangka menyertai kumpulan itu di rantau ini.

Timbalan Menteri Pertahanan Anatoly Antonov, yang tidak dapat mengulas laporan tertentu, berkata pada hari Khamis tentera laut Russia kini mempunyai “kumpulan cukup kuat” di sana.

“Tentera laut Rusia tidak berniat untuk mengambil bahagian secara langsung atau tidak langsung dalam konflik serantau mungkin,” katanya kepada 24 penyiar negeri Rossiya.

“Kapal tentera laut kami adalah jaminan kestabilan, jaminan keamanan, usaha untuk menahan kuasa-kuasa lain bersedia untuk memulakan tindakan ketenteraan di rantau ini.”

Juga dilaporkan di tempat di Mediterranean timur adalah Neustrashimy frigat, serta kapal-kapal pendaratan Alexander Shabalin, Admiral Nevelsky dan Peresvet.

Mereka dijangka akan disertai oleh peluru berpandu Moskva cruiser.

Moskva, ditetapkan ketibaannya masa seminggu lebih, akan mengambil alih operasi dari unit tentera laut di rantau ini.

“Rancangan unit tentera di bawah pimpinan Laksamana Valery Kulikov terpaksa ditukar sedikit. Daripada melawat pelabuhan Cape Verde, cruiser Moskva menuju ke Selat Gibraltar. Kira-kira dalam sepuluh hari, ia akan memasuki Mediterranean timur, di mana ia akan menggantikan Laksamana pemusnah Panteleyev sebagai simpang perdana Koperasi Tentera Laut Rusia, “kata satu sumber kepada Interfax pada Rabu.

Panteleyev kebetulan, hanya tiba di timur Laut Mediterranean pada Rabu selepas meninggalkan bandar Far- Eastern pelabuhan Vladivostok pada 19 Mac untuk menyertai kedudukan tentera laut Rusia sebagai perdana.

SSV -201 kapal peninjau, Priazovye, juga dilaporkan dalam perjalanan untuk menyertai kumpulan di Timur Mediterranean ini. Diiringi oleh 2 buah kapal pendaratan, Minsk dan Novocherkassk, kapal perisikan yang diluluskan melalui ‘Selat Istanbul’  pada hari Khamis, yang membantu membentuk sempadan di antara Eropah dan Asia.

Perancis

Pada 31 Ogos, pegawai-pegawai tentera Perancis mengesahkan frigat Chevalier Paul, yang pakar dalam keupayaan anti-peluru berpandu, dan kapal pengangkutan, Dixmude , adalah di Mediterranean. Pegawai Perancis menafikan mereka di rantau ini untuk mengambil bahagian dalam tindakan ketenteraan terhadap Syria, tetapi bukan mengambil bahagian dalam latihan dan operasi persediaan.

Walaupun kehadiran mereka di rantau ini, Perancis kini tidak mempunyai peluru berpandu kapal berasaskan, jadi apa-apa tindakan serangan akan datang dari udara dalam bentuk peluru berpandu kepala jarak jauh, sama dengan negara yang digunakan di Kosovo pada tahun 1999 dan di Libya pada tahun 2011, Time laporan.

Italy

2 buah kapal perang Itali belayar Lebanon pada Rabu dalam usaha untuk melindungi 1,100 tentera Itali dalam Pasukan Interim Pertubuhan Bangsa Bersatu di Lubnan, jiran tenggara Syria, Agence France Presse melaporkan.

Agensi berita ANSA Itali melaporkan bahawa sebuah kapal frigat dan bot pemusnah torpedo berlepas dari pantai tenggara Itali pada hari Rabu dan akan memberikan perlindungan tambahan kepada tentera sekiranya konflik Syria terus merosot.

UK

Sehingga 29 Ogos Response Force Kumpulan Petugas Tentera Laut Diraja telah dikerahkan di Mediterranean sebagai sebahagian daripada langkah jangka yang dirancang Cougar 13. Daya termasuk helikopter pengangkut cemerlang HMS, jenis -23 frigat HMS Westminster dan HMS Montrose, kapal perang amfibia HMS benteng dan 6 Royal Armada kapal Bantuan.

kapal selam nuklear kelas Trafalgar HMS gigih juga dipercayai berada di kawasan itu pada masa ini, selepas ia dikesan di Gibraltar.

Pada hari yang sama bahawa media British mula touting “senjata kekuatan tentera” di Britain yang akan disediakan sekiranya campur tangan, Perdana Menteri Britain, David Cameron hilang undi menyokong tindakan ketenteraan terhadap Syria sebanyak 13 undi. Memandangkan kekalahan parlimen mengejutkan, Setiausaha Luar, William Hague berkata UK hanya akan mampu untuk menawarkan Amerika Syarikat “sokongan diplomatik.”

Canselor Konservatif di UK, George Osborne, mengesahkan bahawa UK tidak akan mendapatkan undi lanjut mengenai tindakan di Syria.

Troubled waters: Naval forces line Syrian shores . . .

Mounting pressure for a Western strike on Syria has seen naval forces both friendly and hostile to Damascus build up off the embattled country’s coastline.. The potential of a US strike against Syria in response to an August 21 chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb gained steam on Wednesday, when a resolution backing the use of force against President Bashar Assad's government cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a 10-7 vote.

President Obama has decided to put off military action until at least September 9, when the seemingly recalcitrant US House of Representatives reconvenes to vote on the measure.

Following the August 21 Ghouta Attack, which killed anywhere between 355 to 1,729 people, the diplomatic scramble to launch or stave off a military strike on Syria was mirrored by the movement of naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Syria.

The deployment of US and allied naval warships in the region has been matched by the deployment of Russian naval warships in the region.

While the Western vessels have in many cases been deployed in the event a military strike against Syria gets a green light, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s naval presence is needed to protect national security interests and is not a threat to any nation.

Below is a brief summary of the naval hardware currently amassed off Syria’s shores.

USA

The US Navy has five Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers off the coast of Syria, which its top admiral says is “fully ready” for a wide range of possible actions.

The USS Ramage, USS Mahan, USS Gravely and USS Barry are each armed with dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of about 1,000 nautical miles (1,151 miles) and are used for precise targeting.

The ships are also equipped with surface-to-air missiles capable of defending the vessels from air attacks.

On August 29, the USS Stout was sent to relieve the USS Mahan, but a defense official told AFP that both ships might remain in the area for the time being.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday that the US ships are prepared for what he called a "vast spectrum of operations," including launching Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Syria, as was done in Libya in 2011, and protecting themselves in the event of retaliation, AP reports.

In addition to the destroyers, the United States may well have one of its four guided missile submarines off the coast of Syria. At one time these subs were equipped with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. Nowadays, they are capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

It was also announced on Monday that the US had deployed the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport ship, to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The USS San Antonio, with several helicopters and hundreds of Marines on board, is “on station in the Eastern Mediterranean” but “has received no specific tasking,” a defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The deployment of the USS Antonio comes despite promises from President Obama that no amphibious landing is on the agenda, as the US has ostensibly ruled out any “boots on the ground.”

While the wording of the draft resolution set to be put before the House does not permit a ground invasion, the wording of the text could potentially allow troops to carry out non-offensive operations within Syria, including securing chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities.

On Monday, it was also announced the USS Nimitz super carrier had moved into the Red Sea, though it had not been given orders to be part of the planning for a limited US military strike on Syria, US officials told ABC News.

The other ships in the strike group are the cruiser USS Princeton and the destroyers USS William P. Lawrence, USS Stockdale and USS Shoup.

The official said the carrier strike group has not been assigned a mission, but was shifted in the event its resources are needed to “maximize available options.”

The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and strike group is also in the northern Arabian Sea.

Russia

Russia, Syria’s longtime ally and primary arms supplier, has its only overseas naval base located in the Syrian port of Tartus, which has reportedly been used to support Russia’s growing number of naval patrols on the Mediterranean. However, Russia insists recent efforts to bolster its naval presence in the region are not in response to Western threats of a military strike.

Reported movements of many Russian ships in the region are coming from anonymous Russian defense ministry sources and have not been confirmed. RT contacted the Russian Navy to ask for confirmation of the reported ship movements, though no comment was forthcoming.

On Friday, for example, the large landing ship, Nikolai Filchenkov, was reportedly dispatched from the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol for the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, from where it is eventually expected to reach the Syrian coast, a source told Interfax News Agency.

"The ship will make call in Novorossiisk, where it will take on board special cargo and set off for the designated area of its combat duty in the eastern Mediterranean," the source said.

RIA news agency quoted an unnamed senior naval source as saying on Friday that the frigate, Smetlivy, would leave for the Mediterranean on September 12-14, and the corvette Shtil and missile boat Ivanovets would approach Syria at the end of the month.

The Russian destroyer Nastoichivy, which is the flagship of the Baltic fleet, is also expected to join the group in the region.

Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov, who was unable to comment on specific reports, said on Thursday the Russian navy currently had a "pretty strong group" there.

"The Russian navy does not intend to take part directly or indirectly in a possible regional conflict," he told the state Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

"Our navy vessels are a guarantee of stability, guarantee of peace, an attempt to hold back other forces ready to start military action in the region."

Also reportedly in place in the eastern Mediterranean are the frigate Neustrashimy, as well as the landing ships Alexander Shabalin, the Admiral Nevelsky and the Peresvet.

They are expected to be joined by the guided-missile cruiser Moskva.

The Moskva, set to arrive in a little over a week’s time, will take over operations from a naval unit in the region.

"The plans of the naval unit under the command of Rear Admiral Valery Kulikov had to be changed a little. Instead of visiting a Cape Verde port, the cruiser Moskva is heading to the Strait of Gibraltar. In about ten days, it will enter the eastern Mediterranean, where it will replace the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev as the flagship of the operative junction of the Russian Navy," a source told Interfax on Wednesday.

Panteleyev incidentally, only arrived in the east Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday after leaving the Far-Eastern port city of Vladivostok on March 19 to join the Russian standing naval force as its flagship.

The SSV-201 reconnaissance ship, Priazovye, is also reportedly on its way to join the group in the Eastern Mediterranean. Accompanied by the two landing ships, Minsk and Novocherkassk, the intelligence ship passed through the ‘Istanbul Strait’ on Thursday, which helps form the boundary between Europe and Asia.

FRANCE

On August 31, French military officials confirmed the frigate Chevalier Paul, which specializes in anti-missile capabilities, and the transport ship, Dixmude, were in the Mediterranean. French officials denied they are in the region to participate in military action against Syria, but were rather taking part in training and operation preparations.

Despite their presence in the region, France currently has no ship-based missiles, so any offensive action would come from the air in the form of long-range Scalp missiles, similar to those the nation used in Kosovo in 1999 and in Libya in 2011, Time reports.

Italy

Two Italian warships set sail for Lebanon on Wednesday in a bid to protect 1,100 Italian soldiers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Syria’s southeastern neighbor, Agence France Presse reported.

The Italian ANSA news agency reported that a frigate and a torpedo destroyer boat departed from Italy's southeastern coast on Wednesday and would provide additional protection to the soldiers in the event the Syrian conflict further deteriorates.

UK

As of August 29, the Royal Navy's Response Force Task Group was deployed in the Mediterranean as part of long-planned exercise Cougar 13. The force includes helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, type-23 frigates HMS Westminster and HMS Montrose, amphibious warship HMS Bulwark and six Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships.

The Trafalgar-class nuclear submarine HMS Tireless was also believed to be in the area at the time, after it was detected in Gibraltar.

On the same day that British media started touting Britain’s “arsenal of military might” which would be available in the event of intervention, British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote endorsing military action against Syria by 13 votes. In light of the shocking parliamentary defeat, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK would only be able to offer the US “diplomatic support.”

The UK’s Conservative Chancellor, George Osborne, confirmed that the UK would not seek a further vote on action in Syria.