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USS Wasp, Marines enter Mediterranean amid Israel-Hezbollah tensions

By Tara Copp

The USS Wasp and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard is sailing with the USS Oak Hill and USS New York. (John Minchillo/AP)

The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea this week as the U.S. positions warships to try to keep fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon from escalating into a wider war in the Middle East.

While the Wasp has the capability to assist in the evacuation of civilians if full-scale war breaks out between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group along the Lebanon border, that’s not the primary reason it was rotated in, a U.S. official said.

“It’s about deterrence,” the official said.

A second U.S. official said the rotation is similar to the U.S. sending the USS Bataan assault ship into the waters around Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, with the vessel remaining for months in the eastern Mediterranean to help provide options and try to contain the conflict. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operational details.

U.S. officials said last week that the deployment of the Wasp was likely as the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its air wing left the region. The Wasp carries F-35 fighter jets, which do short takeoffs and vertical landings, so they can do airstrike missions off smaller ships.

U.S. European Command, which is responsible for ships operating in the Mediterranean, announced the move this week, saying the Wasp and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard would sail with the dock landing ship USS Oak Hill, which is used to transport Marines, landing craft, vehicles and cargo. The Oak Hill is already in the Mediterranean.

The Wasp also is sailing with the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York, which can deliver troops either by on-deck helicopters or landing vessels.

It all comes as Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border strikes since the Oct. 7 attacks that launched the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and they have been escalating gradually.

A U.S. official said concerns about a major escalation are now lower than they were last week but remain higher than they were last month. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to relate internal Biden administration thinking, said the assessment had less to do with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s meetings in Washington this week and more to do with a reduction in attacks from both Hezbollah and Israel in recent days.

The Israeli army said last week that it has “approved and validated” plans for an offensive in Lebanon, although any decision would come from the country’s political leaders.

Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday that any Israeli military offensive into Lebanon would risk an Iranian response in defense of Hezbollah, triggering a broader war that could put American forces in the region in danger.

The Eisenhower, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after a deployment of more than eight months countering Houthi strikes on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which the Navy says is its most intense mission since World War II. The San Diego-based USS Theodore Roosevelt will take the Eisenhower’s place.

Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed.

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USNS Burlington Departing July 3 for Continuing Promise Mission in Caribbean

Heather Mongilio – June 28, 2024 6:35 PM

SNS Burlington (T-EPF 10) transits in the Caribbean Sea during UNITAS 23 July 16, 2023. US Navy Photo

USNS Burlington (T-EPF-10) will deploy July 3 and head to the Caribbean and South America for the beginning of the Continuing Promise mission.

Continuing Promise is a humanitarian mission that sees Navy sailors, medical professionals and civilians provide medical care for communities in need, while also building partnerships, a panel of Navy leaders told reporters Friday. The Navy will visit Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia and Panama.

The mission set for this year’s Continuing Promise exercise will include the medical aide and working to establish relationships with partners, as well as discussions on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, women, peace and security, said Rear Adm. Jim Aiken, commander of US 4th Fleet and Naval Forces Southern Command, during a roundtable.

“We have friends and we have partners, and, really, we enjoy the side-by-side that we have with each and every one of them, and we learn from them, and they learn from us,” Aiken said.

This year, Continuing Promise will not include hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20). Instead, Burlington will act as the hub for the mission due to its transport capabilities. Although the EPFs are being outfitted to be able to handle medical operations, most operations will be done on land, he said.

The Navy may consider Burlington as a lead ship for the Navy’s hybrid fleet, Aiken said, which means the Navy can look at how the EPF functions during the mission.

“So the ETF is really just a hub, a base for operations,” Aiken said. “Going forward, certainly there’ll be some things to learn about, how to best outfit it, how to best resupply it, where it can pull into, you know, those types of things.”

While the Navy does track how many patients are seen, the metrics for the mission’s success are qualitative, he said.

“But at the end of the day, what we’re really evaluating, what we’re really assessing, is the strength of the relationships, and that’s really what’s most important going forward,” he said.

The mission has seen success in previous years, something that Lt. Cmdr. Zachary Smith, Continuing Promise 2024 Mission commander, expects to see this year as well.

“The mission is a symbol of our long-standing commitment to the nations and people of Latin America and the Caribbean, and we’ve delivered on our promises, working hand in hand with our partners to deliver, over the course of the history of mission, more than 600,000 medical treatments, over 7000 surgeries and you know, countless construction projects, holding life projects, community relations events,” he said.