This file photo shows USS Dwight D. Eisenhower transiting the Persian Gulf.
Source:
Press TV
A
US aircraft carrier strike group has reportedly entered the Mediterranean Sea
as the area is beset by two major conflicts — a full-blown civil war in Libya
and tensions between Damascus and Turkish-backed militants in Syria.
The
Marine Traffic website, a vessel-tracking and maritime information portal, said
in a report that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower crossed through the Strait of
Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday night.
The
portal said the 40-year-old aircraft carrier, going by the call sign IKE, was
escorted by several other US Navy warships, including the USS San Jacinto and
USS Vella Gulf Tomahawk-armed guided-missile cruisers, as well as a destroyer
squadron consisting of the USS Stout, USS James E. Williams and USS Truxton
destroyers.
The
strike group, manned by some 6,000 sailors, also includes eight squadrons of
F/A-18E fighter jets as well as maritime attack choppers.
In
a press statement about the Eisenhower’s operations, the US Navy said last week
that the strike group was “conducting operations in the US 6th Fleet to support
maritime security operations in international waters, alongside our allies and
partners.”
“IKE
offers tremendous capability to the region,” Vice Admiral Lisa Franchetti,
commander of the Sixth Fleet, said in the statement. “During her operations in
the Atlantic, IKE strike group will exercise the fundamental warfare practice
of ensuring the security of vital sea lanes of communication. The deployment
will also serve to demonstrate commitment to our allies and partners in Europe
and Africa."
The
Sixth Fleet, which is headquartered in Naples, Italy, operates in the European
and North African region, including the Mediterranean Sea.
Why
the Mediterranean Sea?
The
Mediterranean is home to two major hotspots – Libya and Syria.
Libya
plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising and a NATO intervention led
to the ouster of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Since
2014, Libya has been divided between the internationally-recognized Government
of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli and a camp in the eastern
city of Tobruk, supported militarily by militias and rebel forces allied with
renegade general Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar
launched his offensive to seize Tripoli last April but after rapid advances his
forces stalled on the edges of the capital. The fighting has so far left more
than 1,000 people dead and displaced some 140,000 others, according to the
United Nations.
Syria,
gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011, launched a
counter-terrorism offensive in the northwestern province of Idlib and
neighboring areas last December after its troops came under increasing militant
attacks.
Turkey
has deployed massive troops and military equipment in recent weeks to stop
Syrian troops from ousting terrorists.
Under
a deal reached between Turkey and Russia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in
September 2018, Ankara is required to remove Takfiri terrorists from the
embattled province. But, more than a year into the Sochi deal, foreign-backed
terrorists rule supreme in Idlib in close proximity to the Turkish troops.
Idlib,
the last militant bastion in the nine-year war, is home to several anti-Damascus
militant outfits that receive Turkey’s support in their persisting militancy
against the Syrian government.
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