WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East and asked the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the region, the Defense Department said Sunday.
These moves come as the United States and other allies seek to push Israel and Hamas to Reach a ceasefire agreement Which may help calm the rising tensions in the region after Assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh In Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Officials were anticipating retaliatory strikes by Iran and Hezbollah in response to the killings, and the United States has beefed up its presence in the region.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement that Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier today, and affirmed America’s commitment “to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions.”
The Lincoln, which had been in the Asia-Pacific region, had already been ordered to the region to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which was due to begin returning home from the Middle East. Last week, Austin said the Lincoln would arrive in the Central Command area by the end of the month.
It was not clear Sunday what his latest order meant, or how quickly the Lincoln would sail to the Middle East. The carrier carries F-35 fighter jets, along with F/A-18 fighter jets also on carriers.
Ryder also did not say how quickly the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia would arrive in the area.
He said Austin and Galant also discussed Israeli military operations in Gaza and the importance of mitigating harm to civilians.
The call comes a day after an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday killed at least 80 people and wounded nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month-old war. Israel-Hamas war.
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