Despite differing political agendas in Syria’s ongoing civil war, Russia and the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are now sending significant naval forces to Syria’s Mediterranean coastline. The eastern Mediterranean is becoming crowded, as ten countries, in addition to Russia and Turkey, currently have warships in the area, including the NATO member states’ nuclear aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and France’s Charles de Gaulle (Hurriyet, December 6). In all, 13 foreign warships are now deployed off the Syrian coast (Güneş Gazetisi, December 6). The surge in naval forces comes in the wake of Turkey’s November …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation