USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier leaving Red Sea after attacks off Yemen coast
USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is leaving the Red Sea waters, after it came under sustained retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Yemeni naval units last week.
According to the United States Naval Institute (USNI), the Nimitz-class warship has entered the US 7th Fleet, departing West Asia without a carrier for just the second time in over a year.
The last time the US Navy left the region without a carrier strike group was in June, when USS Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the Mediterranean while USS Theodore Roosevelt made its way to the United States Central Command (CENTCOM).
The arrival of USS Theodore Roosevelt in June allowed the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to leave West Asia after seven months.
The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group arrived in West Asia in August, joining the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group before the latter left in September.
USS Abraham Lincoln’s departure from the Red Sea waters comes after the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces announced in a statement on November 12 that the country’s naval units had carried out two major military operations against US warships in retaliation for American and British attacks on the country and in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese nations amid Israeli atrocities.
Brigadier General Yahya Sarea said the first operation targeted the American aircraft in the Arabian Sea with a number of cruise missiles and drones.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have carried out two significant military operations against US naval assets in retaliation for American and British attacks on the country and in support of Palestinians and Lebanese.
He emphasized that the operation was successful and thwarted planned US attacks against Yemen.
“The other operation targeted two American destroyers in the Red Sea with a number of ballistic missiles and drones,” Saree added, noting that the operation had “successfully achieved its objectives.”
He said that these operations took place over an eight-hour period.
Saree said they hold the American and British enemies responsible for turning the Red Sea region into a zone of military tensions and its adverse fallout on maritime navigation.
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they will not stop their attacks until Israel’s ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.
So far, Israel has killed at least 43,922 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 103,898 others in Gaza.
