The ship USS Donald Cook, one of the four destroyers that the US Navy has in the base of Rota (Cádiz), has participated in the attack of the United States with missiles against the military installations of Al Assad in Syria, last night Friday. "Donald Cook had started routine operations in the eastern Mediterranean weeks before the chemical weapons attack" of the Al Assad government against civilians, sources with the Ministry of Defense confirm to this newspaper.

During the last few days, the US Government has been informing Spain of the coordinated attack with the allied forces, France and the United Kingdom, "through the permanent Hispano-American Joint Committee, and the High Level Bilateral Committee. On Friday night, when the bombing of Syria took place, the defense minister, María Dolores de Cospedal, was in contact with her French counterpart, while the Pentagon was reporting the operation to the JEMAD (Chief of Defense Staff). , Fernando Alejandre Martínez.

In addition to the Rota-based destroyer, two airplanes of the US air force based in Zaragoza have provided "logistical support to the military operation" with "procurement" tasks, warn from Defensa. Sources of the base roteña confirm that the USS Donald Cook was "for days out of the base", located in "waters of the Mediterranean" from where the 59 Tomahawk missiles have been launched against chemical weapons deposits between the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs. Defense has not confirmed whether the missiles departed from the launch pad of the vessel based in the Roteña base, or if it simply did support work for the rest of the destroyers.

Other US and British media also cite Donald Cook as part of the attack deployment against Syria. The Washington Examiner newspaper reports that the Rota-based destroyer left on Monday for Syria from the port of Cyprus, where the US, France and the United Kingdom have coordinated the logistics of the offensive against Al Assad by sea and air. The prestigious British magazine Jane's, specializing in military and defense issues, also locates in Cyprus the operations center of the attack, in which aerial fighters of the RAF (UK Royal Air Force) have participated. The New York Times warns that three American vessels with long-range missiles have participated, although it does not mention their names.

Donald Cook is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, the weapon that the US used just a year ago against a Syrian airfield after a sarin gas attack on civilians. It is the largest US destroyer docked in Rota, where it has been based since February 11, 2014. In April 2017, US President Donald Trump ordered another bombing of Syria using cruise missiles launched from the USS Porter and USS Ross , also based in Rota. The first was incorporated to the naval contingent of the base in April 2015 and the second one a year earlier, in June 2014 (the fourth vessel is the USS Carney). The four destroyers that sleep in the Roteña base use SM-3 missiles, capable of intercepting a ballistic missile in flight and detecting them within a radius of more than 500 kilometers.

Rota is the preferred geostrategic enclave of Washington's naval contingent in the Mediterranean since the Pentagon activated the NATO anti-missile shield in 2013, under the presidency in Spain of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and his US counterpart, Barack Obama. The military base located on the coast of Cadiz is key to controlling the two sources of instability that most concern US security: the Middle East (with a projection towards Central Asia) and Maghreb-Sahel (up to the Gulf of Guinea). Any US military intervention in these scenarios must, predictably, pass through Spain.

At this moment, Rota hosts the largest military deployment of foreign troops on Spanish soil: the base of Rota is now shared by US and Spanish soldiers, around 7,000 in total. The base can hold 4,750 permanent and 2,285 temporary soldiers, although it is currently well below capacity. The naval component of the missile shield projected the disembarkation in Rota of four destructive ships, 1,200 soldiers, a hundred operatives and a heavy military infrastructure on the coasts of Cádiz.

It also reactivated an open debate since the entry of Spain into the Atlantic Alliance: on the one hand, those who reject the fact that our country serves as a military base for the United States, and on the other hand, those who defend the presence of troops in Rota as one of the greatest promoters of a evicted economy. The American bases generate employment, investment and growth, so that among the anti-war activists there are not the 29,000 inhabitants of Rota and neighboring towns.

It also reactivated an open debate since the entry of Spain into the Atlantic Alliance: on the one hand, those who reject the fact that our country serves as a military base for the United States, and on the other hand, those who defend the presence of troops in Rota as one of the greatest promoters of a evicted economy. The American bases generate employment, investment and growth, so that among the anti-war activists there are not the 29,000 inhabitants of Rota and neighboring towns.

The base of Rota occupies 2,300 hectares, one third of the local surface. The urban growth of the municipality is limited in height by the military airport, it eats part of the 16 kilometers of beach and to go to Cádiz or Jerez de la Frontera, the Roteños have to surround all the fencing of the base. Access is forbidden to civilian personnel, except for a thousand Spaniards (90% Roteños) who enter with a personalized pass, restricted to certain areas. The majority are workers, electricians, mechanics, transporters ... Each day 15,000 vehicles access, 60% are military maneuvers, the rest, supply. 56% of the local economy is directly or indirectly related to the base, according to data from employers.