🇺🇸🛡🇮🇱 Austin orders US forces to be ready to deploy as Middle East heats up

The U.S. is further beefing up its military presence in the Middle East, sending in additional troops and putting others on standby while keeping an aircraft carrier on station as the region prepares for more violence.

The moves come after Israeli forces killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon on Friday, in a strike that threatens to plunge the region into a wider war.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its attached destroyers to remain in the region, just a month after rerouting them to the Middle East while they were on a planned deployment to the Pacific. The directive comes days after the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group left its home port in Virginia for a scheduled cruise, potentially creating a two-carrier presence in the Middle East for the second time since the summer.

The Pentagon also announced that the U.S. will be sending additional “air-support capabilities in the coming days,” and that the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group will remain in the eastern Mediterranean. The group includes the amphibious ships USS New York and USS Oak Hill, along with thousands of Marines capable of performing civilian evacuations from Lebanon if necessary. The Wasp, which can launch small boats ashore, is also loaded with Marine-flown F-35B fighter planes, giving military planners an extra aerial punch if needed.

Those ships have been patrolling the Mediterranean since June and have been at sea since April. The Wasp group replaced a similar group of amphibious ships led by the USS Bataan, which had its own deployment to the region extended several times and ended up spending eight months at sea before heading home in March.

Meanwhile, Austin ordered additional U.S. forces to be ready to deploy, “elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” the Pentagon said.

In a Sunday statement, the Pentagon said the ships are being backed up by “DoD’s elevated fighter and attack squadron presence, including F-22, F-15E, F-16, and A-10 aircraft.”

The Truman, which is still in the Atlantic, was initially scheduled to relieve Lincoln and allow the carrier to return to operations in the Pacific, though those plans may have changed now if the decision is made to put both carriers in the Middle East.

🔗 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/29/austin-order-deploy-middle-east-00181582

🇮🇱❌🇱🇧❗️ — British State Media BBC News reports that Israel tells US it intends to launch Lebanon ground incursion, US official says

➡️ A US official confirms Israel has notified the US it intends to launch a limited ground incursion into Lebanon, the BBC's US partner CBS is reporting.

➡️ The official says the operation could start as soon as today

🔗 Link

🇮🇷❌💤🗣Spokesperson for the Israeli enemy army: Missiles were launched from Iran towards "Israel".

🦅@SNNenglish

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷🤚⁉️ — United States Senator Lindsey Graham calls on United States President Joe Biden to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against the Islamic Republic of Iran, aiming to target its oil and energy infrastructure

In a post on his X/Twitter account, the Neoconservative politician said:

This is a moment of choosing for the free world regarding Iran.

The Ayatollah and Iranian regime are religious Nazis who want to destroy the state of Israel – their words, not mine. They want to purify Islam and attack the United States – again, their words, not mine.

This missile attack against Israel should be the breaking point and I would urge the Biden Administration to coordinate an overwhelming response with Israel, starting with Iran’s ability to refine oil.

These oil refineries need to be hit and hit hard because that is the source of cash for the regime to perpetrate their terror.

My prayers are with the people of Israel, and may God continue to bless Israel.

🔗 Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC)