Special to WorldTribune.com
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
The U.S. Navy said it launched air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time on June 3.
Fighter jets flew from the USS Harry S. Truman after the ship moved into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, marking the first air strikes conducted by a carrier group in that region since the Iraq war began in 2003, it said.
Previous strikes were launched from carriers in the Persian Gulf or from land bases in Bahrain, Turkey, and other countries.
The Navy gave no details on how many and what type of targets were hit.
The United States is increasingly concerned about Russia’s growing military presence in the region, and the air strikes also send a message to Turkey that the U.S. military has other ways to conduct its air war over Syria than from the Turkish air base at Incirlik.
U.S. launches first strikes from Mediterranean carrier since 2003 added by World Tribune on
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