U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is ordering the military to stay on high alert as the Israel-Hezbollah conflict continues to ramp up.
Tensions between the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah and Israel are sitting on a knife’s edge after Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an airstrike on Friday. The U.S. has a variety of assets in the Middle East region, and Austin wants them to be ready in case the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.
Austin directed the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to remain in the Middle East after it was rerouted to the region months ago from its planned operations in the Indo-Pacific, according to Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder and Politico. The USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group / Marine Expeditionary Unit has also been directed to remain in the region, which will be “complemented by [Pentagon’s] elevated fighter and attack squadron presence.”
I spoke twice with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant yesterday about events in Lebanon. I expressed my full support for Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against Iranian backed terrorist groups. I stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran…
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) September 28, 2024
Austin “has also increased the readiness of additional U.S. forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” Ryder said in a statement on Sunday. “And [the Pentagon] maintains robust and integrated air-defense capabilities across the Middle East, ensuring the protection of U.S. forces operating in the region.”
The new directive may mean that two aircraft carrier strike groups will be postured in the Middle East for the second time in recent months. The strike groups come with various assets, including naval destroyers and fighter jets, which have been operating in the region since June.
The U.S. is also ready for a potential move from Iran, which backs Hezbollah and has been both directly and indirectly involved with conflict with Israel since last year, White House spokesman John Kirby said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday.
“We did deploy some additional forces into the region,” Kirby told ABC. “We now have more force capability in the Middle East than we did 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 it comes to that.”
“We have contingency plans for evacuations in just about every corner of the world,” Kirby said. “Everything that Secretary Austin is doing at the Department of Defense is to make sure that we have the requisite capability and planning and preparation capability available to us.”
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