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both along the Israel-Lebanon border and with Iran-backed factions in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks — has already been replaced by an amphibious ready group led by the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall.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 the same day as Israel said it was pulling five brigades from the Gaza Strip in a sign the Israeli military could be shifting towards more narrowly targeted campaign against Hamas leaders under pressure from Washington.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged to Al-Monitor and other reporters onboard the USS Ford last month that a downshift in the scale of Israeli operations in Gaza would likely reduce the threat of Iran's proxies expanding the conflict.
