Late,
Maybe munitions are cheaper now than I remember them. Missile use in a crowded harbour area is not recommended as they have a habit of going rogue as the israelis have found out many times. If we are talking about taking out potential Hez "boghammers" then there's nothing better then rapid fire guns either ship borne or on attack a/c.
I agree the air threat is limited and the Syrians are unlikely to do anything. This is handy, because we won't be able to stop them.