USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier arrives off Syrian shore
USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier arrives off Syrian shore.
( Luis may indeed have been correct. This actually looks like the US is serious… – JW )
DEBKAfile Special Report December 5, 2012, 4:20 PM (GMT+02:00)
The USS Eisenhower Strike Group transited the Suez Canal from the Persian Gulf Saturday, Dec. 1, sailing up to the Syrian coast Tuesday in a heavy storm, with 8 fighter bomber squadrons of Air Wing Seven on its decks and 8,000 sailors, airmen and Marines.
The USS Eisenhower group joins the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group which carries 2,500 Marines.
Facing Syria now are 10,000 US fighting men, 70 fighter-bombers and at least 17 warships, including the three Iwo Jima amphibious craft, a guided missile cruiser and 10 destroyers and frigates. Four of these vessels are armed with Aegis missile interceptors.
This mighty US armada brings immense pressure to bear on the beleaguered Assad regime after it survived an almost two-year buffeting by an armed uprising. Its presence indicates that the United States now stands ready for direct military intervention in the Syrian conflict when the weather permits.
Left behind in the Persian Gulf is just one US aircraft carrier, the USS Stennis and its strike group.
Welcoming NATO’s decision Tuesday, Dec. 4, to deploy Patriot missile batteries in Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday: “The protection from NATO will be three dimensional; one is the short-range Patriots, the second is the middle-range Terminal High Altitude Air Defense [THAD] system and the last is the AEGIS system, which counters missiles that can reach outside the atmosphere.”
debkafile’s military sources: While the Patriot is land-based and will be deployed on the Turkish-Syrian border, the THAD and the Aegis have just reached the Syrian coast aboard the USS Eisenhower strike group.
“With this integrated system,” said Davutoglu, Turkey will have maximum protection.”
He added: “The Syrian regime has 700 missiles,” and their location, storage method and holders are no secret to Ankara. This was the first time Ankara had made threats to destroy Syrian missiles, including any carrying chemical warheads.
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WarSclerotic 
December 5, 2012 at 4:40 PM
Carrier Airwing 7 changes command on-board USS Eisenhower
December 5, 2012 at 4:47 PM
why help the turks they created the mess obama is even more ridiculous than putin
December 5, 2012 at 4:49 PM
Some ask why did NATO bomb Serbia, a Christian country fighting Islamic terror.
December 5, 2012 at 7:39 PM
Answer….William Jefferson Clinton, that’s why.
December 5, 2012 at 10:46 PM
come on the serbs were facists
December 5, 2012 at 5:24 PM
The way I see it, the US military is facing $500 billion dollars in cuts after 2012. As we speak, negotiations are going on in congress to add an additional $300 billion. Engaging in combat on a large scale will change or delay the cuts, certainly something we need to consider as we strive to learn the truth about what’s happening all around us today.
December 5, 2012 at 8:01 PM
The firm determination of the USA and their allies will convince Assad that triggering WMD warfare is, in fact , a suicidal decision.
The russians and the iranians are also reading the news and understand that even their duplicity cannot work anymore and they are saying to Assad to forget about opening the WMD Pandora Box.
Assad will not apply doomsday measures -in fact, his doomsday -and will try to hold on with the help of the russians, iranians and China. The mujahedin forces who are fighting against him are improving all the time so a long military agony is waiting for Assad.
December 5, 2012 at 9:02 PM
A mortar shell fired from Syria fell on the Israeli side of the border fence on the Golan Heights Wednesday afternoon, security sources said
December 6, 2012 at 12:10 AM
BREAKING: More than 150,000 soldiers and police officers in Damascus bracing for the “great battle” over Damascus – SNA Spokesman