Spy planes & aircraft carrier: US boosts presence off Syria amid WMD accusations

‘US surveillance planes have intensified flights off the coast of Syria after Washington accused Damascus of plotting a chemical attack. Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush is en route to the Israeli port of Haifa.
Enthusiasts monitoring air traffic in the region have logged the flights of three types of US spy planes – the RC-135U Combat Sent, RC-135V Rivet Joint, and the P-8A Poseidon – off the coast of Syria over the past week.
All three planes were active Tuesday after the White House publicly claimed the government in Syria was preparing a chemical attack and warned Damascus would “pay a heavy price” if it was carried out…
…On Wednesday, US officials insinuated that their threats had persuaded Damascus to abandon attack plans.
“It appears that they took the warning seriously,” US Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters on his way to Brussels for a NATO meeting. “They didn’t do it.”
“I can tell you that due to the president’s actions, we did not see an incident,” said the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley. Trump’s actions “saved many innocent men, women and children,” she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.’
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