File talk:USS Donald Cook outside Tartus 9 April 2018.jpg

USS Donald Cook is only 100 km from Tartus. That is far TOO CLOSE to launch Tomahawks with a 1,500 km range. More likely it is there for missile defense, targeting the Russian anti-ship missiles and counter attacks. Russia cannot attack a ship that *did not* launch missiles at Syria, that would be an escalation. (Sinking the ships that *did* fire missiles at Syria is OK under the rules of the game.) -- Petri Krohn (talk) 22:48, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

It could also be there to enforce a literal no-fly zone over Syria. Russia wouldn't be too happy about that. --Charles Wood (talk) 01:47, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Is this a genuine new photo of Donald Cook? It departed Cyprus, but my impression from reading machine translation of Hurriet is that the story was not confirmed: ''The Navy denied allegations that the USS Donald Cook ship was approaching Syrian territorial waters and harassed by Russian aircraft. '' If an amateur is photographing from sea level, the horizon is ~ 3.57 h^(1/2) km with h in meters; that is 18 km for height of 26 m; so photo cannot be made from shore; sailing/flying off Syria is kind of adventurous for an amateur. Note that Cyprus is not too far, some 200-300 hundred km away --Resup (talk) 04:05, 11 April 2018 (UTC)


 * INFO LE POINT. La frégate « Aquitaine » menacée par un avion russe - Le Point, 11 April 2018
 * Des SU-24M Russes Ont Réalisé Des Passages Bas Au-Dessus De La Fremm Aquitaine De La Marine Nationale -Defens'-Aero, 11 April 2018 --Resup (talk) 16:13, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
 * ''the French frigate Aquitaine, posted in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of Operation Chammal, was flown over the weekend by at least one Russian aircraft displaying an 'aggressive' posture. For its part, in addition to submarines whose activity is obviously unknown, the US Navy is currently deploying the USS Donald Cook in the Eastern Mediterranean (MEDOR) after making a stopover at the Larnaca port of Cyprus. April 09, 2018. Reports from several US and international media have evoked similar facts about Russian aircraft with the American destroyer.