A US carrier strike group sent by the US in the aftermath of Hamas’ surprise assault on Israeli cities on October 7 arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday afternoon, as per the Pentagon.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, one of the world’s largest aircraft carriers, and its accompanying ships, has been dispatched to the region in order “to deter any actor seeking to escalate the situation or widen this war,” according to the US Central Command. Besides the aircraft carrier, the strike group includes Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser the USS Normandy, and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers the USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt.
In addition, the US may send a second strike group, given that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and accompanying warships were scheduled months ago to be dispatched this week to the Middle East. They may reach the Eastern Mediterranean in around two weeks, according to the US press. The US fighter aircraft presence in the region has also been bolstered.
“All they can do is make it more dangerous, more volatile,” Larry Johnson, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, told Sputnik. “But look, the US naval presence, all it could do is either launch cruise missiles or aircraft that would bomb positions, Palestinian positions, Hamas positions. And so when you start killing Palestinians, and particularly if any civilians die, it then will fuel outrage throughout the region and actually probably around the world about the US actions. Remember, the last time the United States did something like this, when it put warships off the coast of Israel and Lebanon, was in 1983. And at that time, the United States was shelling Hezbollah positions in the Beqaa Valley. And as a result of that, Hezbollah launched terrorist attacks that blew up the Marine barracks and blew up the US Embassy. And so it killed almost 300 people between those two attacks. I think what you’re seeing here is the possibility of a repeat of that, if the United States decides to get involved militarily.”
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden denounced the Hamas attack on Israelis as an act of terrorism, and expressed full solidarity with Israel. Commenting on the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and US Air Force fighters, the Biden highlighted that these moves are not aimed at deterring Hamas, but any state or non-state actors who may try to take advantage of the unfolding havoc. “To any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word: Don’t,” Biden said.
“Well, I think in his mind, they’re aimed at Russia. They’re aimed at Iran. And it’s really unfortunate,” Johnson suggested. “What the United States should be doing at this time is working with Russia, Iran, Turkiye, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, to bring together diplomatic pressure to get this violence stopped.”
Russia has made it clear that it is not taking sides in the conflict, urging the warring parties to stop hostilities and at long last agree on the establishment of two states in the region, as was initially planned back in 1947 by the United Nations. It is important for Moscow to maintain a balanced approach in order to participate in resolving the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. Earlier, Peskov elaborated that Moscow has ties with the Palestinians that go far back, but also maintains relations with Israel, where many Russian citizens live.
Meanwhile, despite the American establishment claiming it wants to prevent others from widening the war, US hawks have already pointed the finger at Iran (even though Team Biden and Israel have said there is no evidence to back such a claim) and weighed up the use of military force against Tehran.
One of them, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) – who has previously called for “killing Russians” – wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “How much more death and destruction does the world have to take from the Iranian Ayatollah and his henchman before they pay a real price?” Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was even more straightforward, telling a US broadcaster that her message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is: “Hamas did this, you know Iran’s behind this. Finish them.” This hawkish stance spells a lot of trouble for the region, according to Johnson.
“Well, it’s called hypocrisy, double standard. You know, right now the West is expressing outrage at the attack on Israeli civilians. Well, that’s correct. You should do that. But they expressed no outrage at the attack on civilians in the Donbass, over, you know, over nine years, where those civilians were regularly being attacked and killed, not as military targets, but just as civilians that the Ukrainian military was wantonly killing. And the same with Palestinian civilians that have been killed,” the CIA veteran concluded.
