
 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. 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. 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.” 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.
The USS Eisenhower group joins the  USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group which carries 2,500 Marines.
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 survied 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.
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.”