After Attack in Syria... America Extends Aircraft Carrier Mission

The spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command, Colonel Joe Buccino, announced the extension of the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier and its accompanying group of ships to provide options for policymakers following deadly attacks carried out by Iranian-backed forces in Syria last week. Buccino noted that the carrier: "includes the ships Laffey, Delbert D. Black, and Arctic, allowing for potential enhancements of U.S. Central Command’s capabilities to respond to a range of emergencies in the Middle East." The decision likely indicates that the carrier and the accompanying group, which includes more than five thousand U.S. soldiers currently in the European Command's operational area, will not return to their home port in the United States as scheduled. News of the deployment of the ships came a day after the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced that the number of injured soldiers from last week's attacks in Syria had risen to 12 after six U.S. servicemen were diagnosed with brain injuries.