That presumes that stories of WMD being moved to Syria are false. Their is a hypothetical that allows both to be true. Perhaps Saddam did not have artillery WMD munitions, but did have WMD munitions deliverable by plane or helicopter. So therefore, the artillery was a rouse, but the air munitions were taken to Syria. He was not able to use his air force due his loss of control of all airspace. And any planes or helicopters were taken out during the initial air strikes. That may explain why the Soviets gave up and moved them out, hypothetically.
See this lengthy and fascinating analysis from the documents by wretchard at Belmont Club:
Friday, March 24, 2006 Criswell predicts ...
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The other striking thing in Document CMPC-2003-001950 was why the Russians should be particularly worried about the smallest component of the deployment:
4- The ambassador pointed that what worried us (most probably “us” refers to the Russians) was the increase in the number of planes in Jordan where the number of planes in Al Sallt base was as follows: 24 planes F-16 10 planes Tornado 11 planes Harrier He also mentioned that there were 10 A-10 tank destroyers in the Jordanian base of King Faysal.
Why were these relatively small forces so worrisome? My guess is their location near the Iraq-Syrian border and the composition of these air units were suggestive of support for an air assault attack on traffic to and from Syria. What was moving between Iraq and Syria that would be of concern to the Russians?