US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and asked the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to sail faster to the region, the Defense Department said Sunday (11/8).
The move comes as the US and its allies press Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal that could help defuse rising tensions in the region following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Officials have been wary of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah over the killing and the US has increased its presence in the region.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that Austin had spoken with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier in the day and reaffirmed America's commitment “to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening posture and capabilities of U.S. military forces throughout the Middle East in light of rising regional tensions.”
The USS Lincoln, which has been in the Asia Pacific, has been ordered to the region to replace the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is scheduled to return to the U.S. from the Middle East. Austin said last week that the Lincoln would arrive in the Central Command area by the end of the month.
It was unclear Sunday what his latest order meant, or how soon the Lincoln would head to the Middle East. The carrier carries F-35 fighter jets and F/A-18 warplanes.
Ryder also did not say how soon the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia would reach the region. He said Austin and Gallant also discussed Israel's military operations in Gaza and the importance of reducing harm to civilians.
The phone call came a day after an Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities said. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war. (th/uh)
