U.S. aircraft carrier set to depart eastern Mediterranean

Shafaq News/ The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group is set to depart from the east Mediterranean Sea in the coming days. Two U.S. officials told ABC News.

The Ford, deployed to the region shortly after the commencement of the Israel-Hamas war in October, is the U.S. Navy's newest and largest aircraft carrier and was nearing the end of its first operational deployment when it was redirected to the eastern Mediterranean the day after Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on October 7. ABC News reported.

"As part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas' attack on Israel." Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, stressing that sending the carrier and the five other surface warships to deter Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran from broadening the conflict regionally, saying at the time.

A senior U.S. official and a U.S. official told ABC News that in the "coming days," the carrier and other surface ships that make up the strike group will return to the carrier's home port of Norfolk, Virginia, as initially scheduled so that it could prepare for future deployments.

The senior U.S. official affirmed that the United States will maintain a substantial military presence by deploying extra cruisers and destroyers in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

"We have nothing to announce today," said a Defense Department spokesman when contacted for comment from ABC News.

The recent attack by Hamas on October 7 prompted other countries to dispatch warships to the eastern Mediterranean, which formed the most significant naval presence in the region in decades, aimed at deterring Hezbollah and Iran.