Asymmetry delivers Victory - International Peace/War

The ‘Flying Tigers’ launched one of their ‘squadrons’ against the capital Colombo today in retaliation for air raids against their strongholds by the Sri Lankan Air Force. The Lankan Air Force is a relatively modern force with MIG jet fighters while the rebel forces are said to have 2 to 5 hand-built kit aircraft smuggled in, assembled in the jungle and launched from makeshift runways! The latest attack from the Flying Tigers warranted the use of anti-aircraft fire from the Sri Lankan military; however, the rebel HAND ASSEMBLED KIT AIRCRAFT returned to base unharmed after a supremely successful mission – classic ASYMMETRIC warfare.

Nine security personnel were killed and two dozen have been wounded in air attacks by the Flying Tigers to date. It is believed the kit aircraft utilised by the Tiger ‘Air Force’ is the single-engine Czech-made Zlin Z-142 (pictured). Logic dictates that this trainer aircraft is no match for the MIGs of the Sri Lankan Air Force but the success of the attacks proves otherwise.

From the strategies of Sun tzu to David’s sling against the weaponry of the ‘giant’ Goliath, the supremacy of asymmetry has been demonstrated yet again by the resourcefulness and ingenuity of a highly motivated and disciplined small fighting force, the Tamil Tigers of Northern Sri Lanka.

No superpower is able to successfully contend with the Maoists, Naxalites and Tigers of South Asia, nor are governments able to suppress the numerous rebel groups on the Indo-Chinese peninsula. From the Middle East to the South Pacific, neo-colonial forces are haemorrhaging from the attacks and rebuttals of smaller superior and committed forces. Neo-colonial military expansionism is destined to fail wherever it encroaches – all local populations today clearly reject colonial exploitation and slavery. The days of subservience have been relegated to history; no one today is willing to accept military or economic slavery from ANY nation or economic interest.

To the rogue, criminal, murdering USA and its allies; the prerogative lies with the occupied, the advantage and initiative are ours [you will never succeed]. Be advised, we are skilled, decentralised, invisible, unconquerable, relentless and

We are One.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers warned on Monday their nascent air wing would launch more aerial attacks after a weekend raid on oil facilities near the capital, as the military claimed it killed 14 insurgents overnight.

Royal Dutch Shell's local arm said it had temporarily closed its main storage facility 12 miles north of Colombo after Sunday's pre-dawn raid damaged its fire fighting system. But the British-Dutch oil major said its storage tanks were intact and that supplies had not been disrupted.

Sri Lankan shares fell in early trade on Monday while the local rupee hit a new intraday low against the dollar as Sunday's raid, the rebels' third in a month, sent jitters through the markets.

"The Sri Lankan military, especially the air force, are adamantly trying to prove they will always seek a military solution," Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.

"So we have no other way than to take our own measures," he added. "There will definitely be more. We have no choice other than striking back."

Sunday's pre-dawn air raid triggered panic in the capital as air defenses plunged Colombo into darkness and tracers and rockets streaked through the night sky, forcing bars cram-packed with fans watching their side battling in the cricket World Cup cricket final to close abruptly.

Ilanthiraiyan said the timing was a coincidence.

Sri Lanka's military, which is pushing on with a declared plan to destroy the Tigers' military assets in a bid to end a two-decade civil war that has killed around 68,000 people since 1983, vowed to wipe out the fledgling rebel air wing.

"This is a new dimension," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "We are trying to get some more advanced systems."

"To neutralize them either in the air or on the ground ... is a requirement."

Samarasinghe said troops killed 14 Tiger fighters in a series of clashes on Sunday in the northern districts of Mullaithivu, Jaffna and Mannar, where fighting is now focused after the capture of the rebels' eastern stronghold.

The Tigers, who want to carve out an independent state for minority Tamils in the north and east, said they had no details of any such clashes. The foes often contradict each other's accounts of incidents in a parallel propaganda war.

Analysts say the Tigers' home-grown air wing, made up of small acrobatic propeller planes adapted to carry bombs, while tiny poses a threat that should not be taken lightly. Some experts are dumbfounded at how the rebels have managed to fly away safely after each sortie.

International airlines Cathay Pacific and Emirates both suspended flights in and out of Colombo on Sunday at a time when many flights are already half full because tourists are wary to visit during a conflict that is escalating and spreading.

"Although the LTTE's acquisitions appear primitive, they have clearly demonstrated through their last four sorties the helplessness of the government to protect its own airspace," said Iqbal Athas, an analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly.

"The air force still doesn't appear prepared to meet with the air threat from the LTTE."

(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal)

© Reuters 2006

Topics

Other Press

Cleaves on Disc/Stick