Reasons behind Washington’s decision to withdraw the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford from the Israeli coasts?

Washington intends to withdraw the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford from the Israeli coasts.

This announcement raised several questions about the extent of Washington’s reassurance about the level of conflict in the region at the present time, and the messages behind this step despite the continuation of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Nearly 80 days after USS Gerald Ford arrived in Israel with a group of escort ships, and then was subsequently supported by the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower, the situation became different from the mission for which they been ordered to come, as observers indicated that the first is to deter Hezbollah and Iran’s proxies from expanding the conflict regionally in a way that would explode the situation in the region, which, as they put it, hasn’t happened yet.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, based in Norfolk, Virginia, was already in the Mediterranean, and at the beginning of last October it conducted naval exercises with Italy in the Ionian Sea, and the US Department of Defense ordered the aircraft carrier to sail to the eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel, accompanied by approximately 5,000 sailors, warplanes, cruisers, and destroyers, and at that time US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attributed the sending of the Ford aircraft carrier, as part of efforts to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts aimed at expanding this war, most notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran.

The second group of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower joined USS Gerald Ford, and is still deployed in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf of Aden, where tensions have escalated in recent weeks after attacks launched by the Houthis on commercial ships in the Red Sea region.

Several US Navy destroyers from the both aircraft carriers groups were also deployed in the Red Sea, where they shot down drones and missiles heading towards Israel.

According to US officials who told ABC News that in the coming days, the aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike group will return to the port of Norfolk, Virginia, as originally scheduled so that it can prepare for future deployments.

While one official stressed that the carrier’s return would adhere to this timetable and that even with Ford’s departure, the United States would still have a lot of military capacity in the region and flexibility, including deploying additional cruisers and destroyers in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, while he refused.

A spokesman for the US Department of Defense commented on the return of the aircraft carrier, saying, “We’ve nothing to announce today”.

As for the reasons of the decision to withdraw the aircraft carrier, according to observers:

First, and simply because it’s time for the aircraft carrier to return home, as it planned deployment date has expired, however the other the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower and its battle group is still in the region, so this may mean that the Pentagon feels that it has sufficient capabilities to implement the required actions if the situation escalates.

Second, It must determine whether there are any movements by other US aircraft carriers, to find out whether the USS Gerald Ford has been replaced in the region by a new aircraft carrier, or whether this level of US military presence will be maintained.

According to Biden’s administration, it needs to be reassured with the current level of conflict in the Middle East, and the position of threats in the Red Sea during the coming period will determine the course of US actions.

However, Washington will continue its support for Israel in its war against Hamas, the most prominent evidence of which is the urgent sale of about 14,000 tank shells to the Israeli army before the end of 2023, a decision taken without Congress approval.