Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, December 31, 2023
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, December 31, 2023
US said set to pull one of its aircraft carriers away from Middle East
USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier refuels from the underway replenishment oiler USNS Laramie in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, October 11, 2023. (US Navy photo via AP)
The United States will withdraw the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group from the Middle East in the coming days, after more than two months in the Mediterranean Sea, in the shadow of Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, ABC News reports, citing two unnamed US officials.
The carrier was sent at the start of the war with the goal of preventing a regional escalation.
A second strike group, the USS Dwight Eisenhower, is currently in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen to deter Houthi attacks on merchant ships. The report says it will remain in the Middle East for now.
