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Conflict in Syria

US Navy carrier strike group due in Persian Gulf in May — Russian top brass

The US aircraft carrier strike group is due to arrive in the Persian Gulf approximately at the beginning of May

© Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class J. M. Tolbert/ U.S. Navy via AP

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. The US aircraft carrier strike group is due to arrive in the Persian Gulf approximately at the beginning of May, Lieutenant General Viktor Poznikhir, the first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, told reporters on Wednesday.

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"We are aware that the US carrier battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and escorting ships are heading to the Persian Gulf and are scheduled to arrive in about early May," he said. "That is an established practice of US Navy’s presence in the region."

Poznikhir assured that Russia’s General Staff was closely watching "the situation unfolding around Syria and in the entire region." According to the general, of particular concern is the Syrian city of Raqqa because of an extremely dire epidemiological situation there.

"Instead of threatening with missile strikes on Syria, the US-led coalition should embark on reconstruction of the ruined city and to provide comprehensive aid to the population in distress," the general said.

Earlier, US Navy officials said that the US Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group would leave Norfolk, Virginia and head to the Middle East amid mounting tension in Syria sparked by an alleged poison gas attack in the Syrian town of Douma.

On Monday, President Donald Trump vowed that he would be making major decisions "over the next 24 to 48 hours" about the United States’ swift action against the Syrian authorities following the suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians in Douma.

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