FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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U.S. Carrier Group, Destroyer Weigh Anchor toward Syria

April 10, 2018 (EIRNS)—On Monday, April 9 the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook, with 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles, anchored off Syrian territorial waters 100 km (60 miles) from Tartus after a port call in Cyprus. The destroyer was reportedly being repeatedly buzzed and “harassed” by Russian warplanes, according to CNN Turk. The Stratfor site reported the Donald Cook was then the only major U.S. Naval ship in the area. Numerous Russian and Syrian military aircraft were reportedly in the air along the coast.

On April 10, however, it was reported the USS Harry Truman had been deployed from Norfolk, Virginia to the Mediterranean to join the Donald Cook off Syria. The former has seven cruise-missile destroyers in its group, which will arrive there approximately April 17.

The Washington Examiner April 9 reported:

“U.S. military planners have drawn up more than one option for possible military action against Syria, including a strike similar to last year’s attack in which 59 sea-launched cruise missiles inflicted heavy damage on a Syrian Air Force airfield in Homs.