The USS George H.W. Bush, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, has reportedly parked off the Syrian coast just as Americans are being urged by the U.S. embassy in Damascus to “immediately” leave the country.


“The U.S. embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available,” began a statement released Wednesday on the embassy 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.”
In addition to urging citizens to leave the country, CBS News reports
that Ambassador Robert Ford, who was recalled from Syria last month due
to what the Obama administration called credible threats to his safety,
will not return to the country later this month, as planned.
Syria’s government has been
strongly condemned by the international community following months of
state-sponsored violence against political activists protesting the
regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The violence is said to have left thousands dead in the country, which
is a close ally of Iran and a sponsor of the Islamic terrorist group
Hezbollah.
Adding to the sense of danger,
Turkey, a NATO member and fierce critic of Assad’s government, recently
warned its citizens to avoid traveling through the country after Syrian
troops fired on at least two buses carrying Turkish Muslims returning
from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Some Arab publications have
reported this week that a no-fly zone will soon be put in place over
Syria — similar to the one implemented over Libya last spring. And while
such reports in the Arab press are often met with skepticism by western
observers, the financial news service ZeroHedge flagged down
a report from the respected private intelligence company Stratfor
stating that CVN 77, better known as the George H.W. Bush, had left the
strategically vital Straits of Hormuz for the eastern Mediterranean.