How NATO plans to hit Assad: no-fly zone, special ops, and ground troops

Over the red line: how Nato plans to hit Assad

Michael Evans and Deborah Haynes describe contingency plan for a no-fly zone if chemical weapons are prepared for deployment in Syria

A no-fly zone, ground troops and special forces form the main planks of British-American contingency plans drawn up over recent months in anticipation of a Syrian chemical attack.

If a political decision is made to intervene, a limited no-fly zone could be imposed to stop the Syrian Air Force dropping bombs with chemical warheads.

Special operations forces would be deployed, backed by a substantial number of support troops — perhaps as many as 75,000 — to seize or safeguard the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons facilities.

“We have [US] special operations forces at the right posture, they don’t have to be sent,...

[link to www.thetimes.co.uk]