Austin orders US forces to be ready to deploy as Middle East heats up

The United States is further strengthening its military presence in the Middle East, sending additional troops and putting others on standby while keeping an aircraft carrier on station as the region braces for more violence.

The measures come after Israeli forces killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon on Friday, in a strike that threatens to plunge the region into a wider war.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its destroyers to remain in the region, just a month after redirecting them to the Middle East from a planned deployment to the Pacific . The directive comes days after the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group departed its homeport in Virginia for a scheduled cruise, potentially creating a two-carrier presence in the Middle East for a second time since the summer.

The Pentagon also announced that the United States would send “additional air support capabilities in the coming days” and that the USS Wasp amphibious group would remain in the Eastern Mediterranean. The group includes the amphibious ships USS New York and USS Oak Hill, as well as thousands of Marines capable of evacuating civilians from Lebanon if necessary. The Wasp, which can launch small boats ashore, is also loaded with F-35B fighter jets flown by the Navy, giving military planners additional air power if needed.

These ships have been patrolling the Mediterranean since June and have been at sea since April. The Wasp Group replaced a similar group of amphibious ships led by the USS Bataan, whose deployment to the region was extended several times and ended up spending eight months at sea before returning home in March.

Meanwhile, Austin ordered additional U.S. forces to be ready to deploy, “strengthening our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” the Pentagon said.

“We have deployed additional forces to the region,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “We now have more military capabilities in the Middle East than in April, when Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones. So there is already a very robust military capability to defend ourselves and to help defend Israel if that happens. »

In a statement released Sunday, the Pentagon said the ships were supported by “the increased presence of DoD fighter and attack squadrons, including F-22, F-15E, F-16 and A-10 aircraft.” “.

The Truman, which is still in the Atlantic, was initially expected to relieve Lincoln and allow the carrier to resume operations in the Pacific, although those plans may have changed now if the decision is made to place both carriers in the Middle East.

The merry-go-round of American ships in the region comes at a high cost to the Navy. It also leaves the Indo-Pacific short-staffed as ships are drawn to the Middle East to protect U.S. forces and combat Houthi missiles and drones targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Elsewhere in the region on Thursday, two US destroyers shot down several cruise and ballistic missiles launched by Houthi forces at ships crossing the Red Sea.

U.S. Central Command also announced Sunday that U.S. airstrikes killed 37 al-Qaeda and ISIS fighters in Syria on September 16 and 24, including several operational leaders.

During the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group’s extended nine-month deployment to the Red Sea, U.S. forces fired more than 135 Tomahawk land-attack missiles at Houthi targets in Yemen.

The F/A-18 aircraft aboard the Eisenhower also fired 60 air-to-air missiles and 420 air-to-ground weapons during defensive strikes at sea and at ground targets. The Eisenhower and its escort ships returned to station in Virginia in July, handing over to the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group, which continued to shoot down drones daily.