Second U.S. Aircraft Carrier Arrives in the Middle East

The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying destroyers have arrived in the Middle East after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the carrier strike group to accelerate its transit to the region.

This brings the number of U.S. aircraft carriers currently in the Middle East to two, at least temporarily, amid growing concerns over a potential regional military escalation.

Tensions in the Middle East have heightened since Israel assassinated a senior Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukr, in a South Beirut airstrike, and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an assassination in Tehran, with the Islamic Republic accusing Israel of being behind it.

The Lincoln is expected to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt. On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stated in a press release that the USS Abraham Lincoln, equipped with F-35C and F/A-18 Block 3 fighter jets, had entered CENTCOM’s area of responsibility. The statement added that the Lincoln “is the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3, accompanied by the Destroyer Squadron 21 and Carrier Air Wing 9.”

The Pentagon announced on August 11 that Austin had ordered the Lincoln to “accelerate its transition” to the Middle East after initially ordering its deployment to the region earlier this month. Concerns over a major military escalation in the region have increased since Hezbollah and its ally Iran vowed to retaliate for the two assassinations that occurred in South Beirut and Tehran at the end of July, just a few hours apart.