US pulls aircraft carrier from Mediterranean as Israel escalates in Lebanon

WASHINGTON — The US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is headed home to Virginia after nearly three months in the eastern Mediterranean on an extended deployment to deter Iran and Hezbollah from launching major attacks amid Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

The Ford’s carrier strike group — elements of which have contributed to US intelligence gathering as tensions have flared both along the Israel-Lebanon border and with Iran-backed factions in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks — has already been replaced by an amphibious ready group led by the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall. 

Why it matters: The US Navy announced the Ford’s departure a day before Israel was accused of killing a top Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, in a rare hit in Beirut, a move that threatens a potential conflagration with Hezbollah along the Israel’s northern border. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack but security sources told Reuters that an Israeli drone strike killed Arouri. Hamas also accused Israel of the killing. 

US officials, including President Joe Biden himself, have sought to convince Israeli leaders since the start of the conflict not to risk opening a two-front war by escalating daily tit-for-tat strikes with Hezbollah.