77: Chapter 77 Unleashes a New Round of Large-Scale Air Raids

Lieutenant General Green conducted a comprehensive investigation into the military operation at Raqqa Military Base, compiled an investigation report, and submitted it to the US Central Command.

In the report, he emphasized the destruction of Raqqa Military Base and the missile strikes on multiple military facilities, while downplaying the losses of five helicopters and one F-16 Fighter Jet, as well as the damage and required repairs to another F-16 Fighter Jet, concluding that the operation was a success, albeit with some minor losses that left the operation slightly flawed.

Lieutenant General Green has now dispatched Colonel Waller to handle the aftermath; as long as the wreckage of the crashed aircraft and the remains of the soldiers are recovered, and with the replacement helicopters and F-35 Fighter Jets arriving, the strength of Hera Joint Military Base will not have been diminished, but rather enhanced.

General Maitang leveraged the war in Syria to lobby for more military funding, reporting higher losses than what Lieutenant General Green had claimed, eventually bringing the figures close to reality and securing approval from the United States Department of Defense, which resulted in Central Theater Command receiving a large sum of military funds.

General Maitang was satisfied with this result and, with a wave of his hand, directly allocated the helicopters and F-35 Fighter Jets that Lieutenant General Green had requested as replacements.

After all, now that there was a large amount of military funding, only by making purchases could a portion of the money find its way into his own pockets.

The United States Department of Defense was aware of the military operation in Syria and knew there were some losses, but these losses were still acceptable.

As long as it was not known to the public, it was not really an issue at all.

However, unexpectedly, as time passed, quite a bit of information was exposed, attracting the attention of news media and nearly revealing the truth about the military operation at Raqqa Military Base.

Fortunately, the Intelligence Investigation Bureau intervened in time, using global surveillance methods to suppress public opinion and downplay the negative impact of the operation, preventing the public from forming unfavorable speculations about the USA's military strength and reinforcing the impression of the USA's power.

A Black news spokesperson for the United States Department of Defense gave a brief statement at a press conference.

"Recently, the USA launched a military operation against Raqqa Military Base within Syria, with the objective of destroying equipment potentially used for manufacturing chemical weapons at Raqqa Military Base."

"This military operation achieved its intended purpose, completely destroying Raqqa Military Base and reducing multiple military facilities to ruins.

During this operation, the USA lost some helicopters and personnel; although there were some losses, they cannot overshadow the perfect results achieved by this military operation."

Subsequently, the Black news spokesperson refused to respond to any further questions regarding Raqqa Military Base, meeting reporters' inquiries with silence and issuing warnings to those who persisted in asking related questions.

With the Black news spokesperson remaining tight-lipped, reporters were unable to dig up more information from them, and with the intervention of the Intelligence Investigation Bureau, some of the more vocal reporters were arrested on various charges.

Very quickly, news reports related to Raqqa Military Base vanished, and even when news occasionally leaked out, the channels of communication were quickly cut off, preventing it from entering the public eye.

After the high-level officials of the United States Department of Defense finally learned the truth, they were furious about the disastrous failure of the military operation at Raqqa Military Base and issued an order demanding that Central Theater Command immediately organize larger-scale airstrikes against Syria, with Iran's military bases in Syria specifically listed as key targets.

After receiving the order, General Maitang immediately contacted Lieutenant General Green.

"Lieutenant General Green, due to your poor performance at Raqqa Military Base, the Department of Defense is extremely furious and demands that you immediately organize a new round of large-scale airstrikes against Syria."

General Maitang did not immediately accuse Lieutenant General Green of hiding the truth from him, but instead issued the order directly.

"But our Hera Joint Military Base is fundamentally unable to support large-scale airstrikes; our current aircraft can only carry out military missions in the northern region of Syria."

Lieutenant General Green still felt lingering fear from the disastrous failure at Raqqa Military Base and did not accept the order immediately.

"This is an order from the Department of Defense; you must execute it, and there are no conditions to discuss."

"Yes, General. Can you provide some more aircraft to our Hera Joint Military Base?" Lieutenant General Green asked, trying to negotiate terms.

"There are no additional aircraft. You will use the existing aircraft to carry out the airstrike mission first." General Maitang had not yet completed the procurement, and moving aircraft from other locations was a bit troublesome.

"Then the success rate of our airstrike mission will be very low." Lieutenant General Green lowered General Maitang's expectations to avoid bearing heavy responsibility if problems arose.

"You can start by conducting airstrikes on Syria's military facilities. Syria shouldn't have many anti-aircraft missiles, so they won't threaten you." General Maitang offered a suggestion.

"Not necessarily; Syria has recently replenished a batch of anti-aircraft missiles from Iran, and these anti-aircraft missiles might threaten our aircraft."

"Do you think I don't know the situation? Iran's anti-aircraft missiles can at most hit helicopters, and their hit rate is not high. You can dispatch F-16 Fighter Jets and F-35 Fighter Jets to conduct the airstrikes; Syria simply has no power to resist."

"Yes, General." Lieutenant General Green had no choice but to accept the order.

"Regarding this airstrike mission, you must not hide anything from me; you must tell me the results truthfully. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind re-examining the false statements in your investigation report on the military operation at Raqqa Military Base and charging you for your actions during that operation."

"Yes, General. I will report the situation of every airstrike operation truthfully." Lieutenant General Green had to agree for now, to prevent General Maitang from continuing to dwell on the losses at Raqqa Military Base.

"Don't worry so much; I will dispatch aircraft to support the airstrike operations in Syria later; you just need to complete the initial airstrike missions." General Maitang gave a promise.

"Thank you, General. I hope more aircraft will be sent to Syria as soon as possible." Lieutenant General Green could only assume that General Maitang would provide support.

General Maitang took the order from the Department of Defense quite seriously.

The losses at Raqqa Military Base made him realize that the military strength of Syria and Iran in the Syria region had not yet been severely crippled and that they still possessed significant resistance capabilities.

This airstrike mission was also intended to further weaken the military strength of Syria and Iran, so that the USA troops stationed in Syria would not be threatened.

Hopefully, this airstrike mission would achieve ideal results.