To rout the forces that are striving to close his chapter of Syrian history, Assad is now digging into his pile of scud missiles and firing a few of them at rebels. These are bootlegs and permutations of the original R-11's and R-17's, which were first developed by Cold War era Soviets with help from some captured German scientists. Saddam Hussein got along famously with the missiles, naming his modified-long-range-scud the Al-Hussein. The US built the Patriot missile to take them down, which is why America promised today that, given the situation in Syria, it would be sending Patriots to Turkey as an early Christmas present.Leaving behind a temporarily blinded launch site, clouded by a kicking-up of sand and dirt, shooting a scud relays the idea that no one really cares how close to its target it will land. The flailing inaccurate ballistics--which can travel anywhere from 300-500 kms at earpiercing Mach 5 speeds--punctuate Assad's desperation quite perfectly. It's as if he says, "Hey look, I've got a hit-or-miss on my hands."So I'm sitting here reviewing footage of what a) scud missiles being shot off into the sky look like, and b) the horrible aftermath at a site of destination, and I've compiled a few GIFs from what I've found. My conclusion? Scuds fucking suck. Not only in terms of inhumanity, but in terms of simple missile performance. Assad might be better off with a trebuchet catapult. Have a look at these gnarly beasts of the sky in the GIFs below:
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