By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Worthy News) – The United States is sending military assets, including a battleship, to Israel and Lebanon to prepare for the evacuation of Americans, U.S. sources say, as Israel’s prime minister warned of a rapid military escalation.
The move was also intended to create a deterrent against more regional tension, including between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, sources said. It came as Israel warned of an imminent broader war, encouraged by Iran, which sponsors Hezbollah and other groups.
“Tehran is fighting us on a seven-front war: obviously, Hamas, Hezbollah as well as the Houthis, the militias in Iraq and Syria, the West Bank, and Iran itself,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He warned that Iran sought to “conquer the Middle East” as the number of countries urging its citizens to leave Lebanon grew, amid heightened concern that the Israel-Hezbollah cross-border conflict would widen into an all-out war.
The prime minister spoke as the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, and Marines from the 24th Expeditionary Unit, special operations capable, were on their way.
It moved into the Mediterranean on Wednesday to join the dock landing ship USS Oak Hill and another ship in their amphibious ready group, according to the Marine Corps.
The Wasp will operate in the eastern Mediterranean to be ready for a Military Assisted Departure of Americans and other missions, the officials told U.S. media.
It did little to ease cross-border strains between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which have been escalating recently.
Shelling across Israel’s northern border has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from areas on both sides of the frontier in recent months.
However, in worrying signs of the internalization of the war, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey stood in solidarity with Lebanon amid growing tensions with Israel. He urged regional countries also to support Beirut.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Newly declassified FBI records released by the White House detail what officials describe as a years-long Chinese intelligence effort to penetrate American political circles through sexual relationships, campaign donations, and strategically placed interns.
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is considering a significant overhaul of its Gaza disarmament framework after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan that would have linked Hamas weapons handovers to phased Israeli troop withdrawals, according to an exclusive report by The Times of Israel.
Iran’s rulers were quietly preparing for a broader and potentially prolonged Middle East war even as Tehran publicly engaged in diplomatic efforts with the United States, according to an exclusive investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.
Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies Sunday following a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to at least 53 as Christians prayed for victims and rescuers struggled to reach isolated communities.
The U.S. Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Christianity and Western civilization this fall in the schools it operates for military families, while casting Islam as a threat to both.
New York’s Jewish community was reeling Sunday as a judge ordered a man held on bail after prosecutors said he admitted to disrupting Shabbat services at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue and assaulting two people there.