US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford this Wednesday to meet with sailors stationed in the Middle East on the mission to prevent the spread of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Pentagon official has been in the region in recent days to pressure Israel to change its bombing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip and use a more limited campaign as well as a faster transition to respond to the humanitarian needs of citizens. Palestinians.
At the same time, the United States is concerned that Israel will launch a similar military operation along its northern border with Lebanon to drive out militants from the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah movement, potentially opening a second front and widening the war in the Middle East . .
At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Austin would not confirm whether U.S. forces could be expanded to defend Israel if his campaign expanded into Lebanon, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to soften the rhetoric. menacing.
Using the sound system of the aircraft carrier, which sails a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel, Austin thanked the sailors and their families for giving up their shared vacation for the mission.
Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we prevent,” Austin told the U.S. Marines.
“At a time of enormous tension in the region, you have all been a key player in preventing a wider regional conflict”he continued.
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is one of two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups monitoring the conflict. The other, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, conducted recent patrols near the Gulf of Aden, where several commercial ships have been attacked in recent weeks.
Yemen’s Huthi rebel group, backed by Iran, has vowed to continue attacking commercial ships crossing the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones until Israel stops its devastating bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 19,000 Palestinians.
To combat attacks by merchant ships, Austin announced Tuesday a new international maritime mission to push countries to send their warships and other resources to the southern Red Sea and protect the roughly 400 commercial ships that transit the region every day.
Since the USS Gerald R. Ford left Norfolk the first week of May, the airline’s fighters and surveillance planes have flown more than 8,000 missions and the crew has consumed 255,000 energy drinks.
Following an unprecedented attack by Hamas that caused around 1,200 deaths and around 240 kidnappings in Israeli territory on October 7, Tel Aviv’s military has since carried out a powerful air, land and sea offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The military operation has already left more than 19,000 dead and more than 51,000 injured, the majority of whom are women, children and the elderly, according to figures from local authorities in Gaza, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist group, and displaced 1.9 million. people, according to the UN 85% of the total population of the enclave.
Source: DN
