Find all of this to be rather unlikely. This is 2018. We have a thing called a carrier strike group. The closest one to this proposed fray is in the Persian Gulf - CVN 71.
76 is at home in Yokuska and 70 is in the South China Sea with the 7th fleet.
Everything else is here at home. While our anphibs are pretty capable and we don't really need a carrier strike group to Operation Overlord Syria… It seems an incredibly odd move as we would be relaying over Iraq with Navy and Air Force CAS missions. That is what you do when you have no options… Not when you can sit back and plan.
Looks like stupid people with big mouths being given disinfo to out them as both stupid and leakers.