By the end of the second week of the re-ignited war between Israel and Hamas, the carrier strike group for the USS Eisenhower and its 5,000 sailors are in the middle of the Atlantic headed to an area off the coast of Israel.
The ships will join the USS Ford, another Norfolk-based carrier strike group, which moved from the western Mediterranean in the days after Israel's response to the Hamas attack.
The Ford left Norfolk in May and is now expected to remain in the region after its deployment was extended indefinitely by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The carrier groups will be joined by three local ships carrying Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: the USS Carter Hall, USS Bataan and USS Mesa Verde. They were in the Middle East, but are now headed to the Mediterranean, said Pentagon Spokesman, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder.
“Now this conflict is contained between Israel and Hamas and we’re going to do everything we can to ensure deterrence in the region, so this does not become a broader regional conflict,” Ryder said during a Pentagon briefing Thursday afternoon.
More U.S. forces could be on the way as the US tries to contain the conflict. Another 2,000 troops have been placed on alert, but the Pentagon would not comment on where those troops are based, unless they are called up. The US Air Force has already positioned additional aircraft around the region, and more aircraft could be called up in the coming days, Ryder said.
U.S. officials maintain they do not plan to become directly engaged in the conflict between Hamas and Israel, but U.S. forces have shot down drones and missiles in the region.
On Thursday, the USS Carney from Jacksonville, Florida, intercepted land attack cruise missiles and drones in the Red Sea. They were fired from Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi forces. Their target is unknown, but the missiles were headed in the general direction of Israel, Ryder said.
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