US Warship Moves To Syrian Coast as Tensions Mount

France proposes NATO military intervention

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, November 24, 2011

The aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush has moved to the Syrian coast amidst reports that a no fly zone is about to be imposed over the country as the U.S. Embassy in Damascus orders its citizens to leave “immediately,” while France has proposed a formal NATO military intervention.

“Probably the most damning evidence that the “western world” is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked… right next to Syria,” reports Zero Hedge.

Publicly, officials are claiming that the George H.W. Bush carrier strike group is “on its way home” after being located in the Middle East for the past five months, but a specific date for the warship’s return has not been given.

According to a report in the Virginian-Pilot, the aircraft carrier will “conduct a range of operations and help maintain maritime security,” before it heads home.

As we reported yesterday, European sources quoted in Kuwait’s al Rai daily suggest that Arab states are set to impose a no fly zone over the country with the aid of Turkish jet fighters and U.S. logistical support. In modern parlence the term “no fly zone” is a euphemism for a bombing campaign, as we saw with Libya.

Although France has expressed its opposition to a no fly zone, foreign minister Alain Juppe met with Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun in Paris yesterday to assure him that NATO powers are looking at using “international troops” to “create a secure zone for civilians” by means of “humanitarian corridors, or humanitarian zones

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Tensions also escalated yesterday after the U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens to leave Syria “immediately,” while Turkey’s foreign ministry told its citizens to avoid traveling through the country on their return home from Saudi Arabia.

“The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available,” said a statement issued to the American community in Syria Wednesday and posted on the Embassy’s website. “The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly since the summer, while many of those airlines remaining have reduced their number of flights.”

The Obama administration quietly pulled Ambassador Robert Ford from the country last month and has indicated he will not return.

Attacking Syria could represent an end run around creating a justification for a military assault on Iran for Israel and the United States because Iran has vowed to defend its ally. However, China and Russia have aggressively opposed any action, with Russia last week moving its warships into Syrian territorial waters – a tactic designed to discourage any NATO-led attack.

Polls have shown that the majority of Americans oppose military intervention in Syria, with just 12 per cent favoring any kind of conflict.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.