The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and the Marines aboard are being sent to the eastern Mediterranean to serve as a deterrent and provide the U.S. military with options as tensions continue to rise between Hezbollah and Israel along the border with Lebanon, according to three U.S. officials.
The officials stressed that the ship’s movement is not an indication that the U.S. is planning to move American citizens out of Lebanon, but that it is moving for deterrence reasons similar to the earlier deployments of the amphibious ship USS Bataan and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel.
Currently on a scheduled deployment to Europe, the Wasp’s transit toward the eastern Mediterranean will serve to deter the war between Hamas and Israel from becoming a broader regional conflict, U.S. officials said.
The ship’s move “is being done for deterrence purposes and to promote regional stability,” said one of the officials.
The Wasp will be joined in the eastern Mediterranean by the USS Oak Hill, which has already been operating in the Mediterranean.
The USS New York, the third ship that makes up the Wasp’s Amphibious Ready Group, will soon join the other two ships in the eastern Mediterranean. a U.S. official said.
