30.09.2024.
12:05
The order was issued; America going to war?
U.S. Secretary of Defense issued an order to further strengthen the US military presence in the Middle East.
As Politico writes, Lloyd Austin issued an order to send additional troops of the US Army to the area, which is threatened with total war, as well as to reinforce the existing ones.
The moves came after Israeli forces killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon on Friday, in an attack that threatens to plunge the region into a wider war.
On Sunday, Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its destroyers to remain in the region, just a month after they were diverted to the Middle East while on a scheduled Pacific deployment.
Politico also states that this directive comes a few days after the carrier strike group "USS Harry S. Truman" left its home port in Virginia, which means that the US will have, potentially, the presence of two aircraft carriers in the Middle East.
The Pentagon also announced that the US would send additional "air support assets in the coming days" and that US troops would remain in the eastern Mediterranean. Those troops include the amphibious ships USS New York and USS Oak Hill, along with thousands of Marines capable of evacuating civilians from Lebanon if necessary.
Those troops are also equipped with F-35B fighter jets flown by Marines, giving military planners an extra air strike if needed.
Meanwhile, Austin ordered additional U.S. forces to be ready for deployment, "enhancing U.S. readiness to respond to a variety of contingencies," the Pentagon said.
"We have deployed some additional forces to the region," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on ABC's Sunday.
"We have more forces in the Middle East now than we had in April, when Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones. So there is already a very strong military capability to defend ourselves and to help defend Israel if it comes to that," he said.
The Pentagon said in a statement on Sunday that the ships are supported by "the presence of fighter and attack squadrons of the Department of Defense, including F-22, F-15E, F-16 and A-10 aircraft."
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