Syria's air power has never been as powerful as the press makes it seem. The sortie rate has never been that high. If Syrian air power was better, the Syrians would be able to make the rebels pay for massing forces to attack air bases.
But Syrian air power isn't better, the Syrians can mass infantry to attack bases, and the rebels are taking ground--and eroding Assad's ability to use air power:
Syrian troops and rebels fought intense battles Thursday around a strategic air base in the country's north and a suburb of the capital that government forces have been trying to capture since last month, activists and state media said. ...
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels stormed parts of the Taftanaz air base in the northwestern province of Idlib before withdrawing. The state-run SANA news agency said government forces protecting the base "repelled the terrorists' attempt to attack the airport" and inflicted heavy losses.
The Observatory said rebels resumed their assault early Thursday in an attempt to capture the base, which has resisted several opposition efforts to take the facility in recent months.
The rebels have been pursuing a strategy of attacking airports and military airfields, targeting five air bases in Idlib and the nearby province of Aleppo, trying to chip away at the government's air power, which poses the biggest obstacle to advances by opposition fighters.
Just being near enough to bases to shell them or attack them will degrade the effectiveness of Syria's air force.
And I'll remind you again that the contrast with the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns is striking. Our air bases were never threatened like this. Yet we were "doomed" in Iraq. Until we won.
You want to see doomed? Watch Assad's forces. In the face of ill-armed rebels, the Syrian ground forces are crumbling and the air force can't compensate.
