Airpower Options for Syria: Assessing Objectives and Missions for Aerial Intervention

Without presuming that intervening in the Syrian civil war is the right course, this report considers the goals a U.S.-led aerial intervention might pursue and examines the requirements, military potential, and risks of five principal missions that intervening air forces might be called on to carry out: negating Syrian airpower, neutralizing Syrian air defenses, defending safe areas, enabling opposition forces to defeat the regime, and preventing the use of Syrian chemical weapons.