US submarine, aircraft carrier strike group en route to Middle East to defend Israel

WORLD, Aug. 12 (YPA) – US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East and accelerated the arrival of a carrier strike group to the region ahead of an anticipated Iranian attack against Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement Sunday evening.

The USS Georgia, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with cruise missiles, was operating in the Mediterranean Sea in recent days, according to the US Navy.

Austin ordered the submarine into the waters of the Middle East, the Pentagon said. The movement of US missile submarines is rarely revealed publicly, and the nuclear-powered vessels operate in near-complete secrecy.

CNN reported that the announcement of a submarine’s movement is a clear message of deterrence to Iran and its proxies, who the US and Israel believe are preparing for a potential large-scale attack on Israel.

The looming Iranian attack would come in response to Israel’s assassination of Hamas’ political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, just hours after the assassination of Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukr in Lebanon.

Austin also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to accelerate its transit to the Middle East, the Pentagon said.

The Lincoln strike group consists of the carrier, which operates with stealth F-35C fighter jets, as well as several destroyers.

@E.Y.M