Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stopped at the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to meet with the sailors who act as the department’s attempt to prevent the Israel–Hamas war from developing into a regional conflict.
Austin stopped by the Ford, which is a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel, on Wednesday during his visit to the Middle East, where he pushed Israeli leaders to enter the next phase of their war in Gaza, which the United States wants to be more precise than the first 10 weeks of their military campaign.
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Austin thanked the sailors and their families for giving up spending the holidays together due to the mission over the carrier’s intercom.
“Sometimes, our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from happening,” Austin told the crew, according to the Associated Press. “In a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the linchpin of preventing a wider regional conflict.”
The secretary met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Austin, who appeared with Gallant at a press conference following their meeting, said, “We also have some great thoughts about how to transition from high-intensity operations to lower intensity and more surgical operations,” adding they “had great discussions on all of those issues.”
Gallant acknowledged “circumstances are changing” in war, a possible nod to the U.S.’s insistence for more precise operations, but declared there is no “clock running” that would force Israel to wind down operations at a specific point.
Israel’s military operations in Gaza have resulted in a staggering death toll that has led to significant backlash for the Israelis. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said the death toll is up to over 18,000 people, many of whom are women and children, though the exact number of militant versus civilian deaths is unclear.
The attack, the death toll of which was unprecedented in Israel’s history, left roughly 1,200 people dead, while around 240 others were kidnapped and brought back to Gaza. More than a hundred remain in Hamas custody, though Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Monday they would be willing to agree to another temporary pause in fighting in exchange for the release of some of the hostages.
Austin surged military resources and personnel to the Middle East following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel to prevent other parties from expanding the conflict. The U.S.-designated Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, which is considered a more sophisticated group than Hamas, has engaged in limited fighting with Israel since Oct. 7, though it has not escalated into a full-blown war.
The Second Lebanon War, fought between Lebanon and Israel, ended in 2006 with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which barred Hezbollah from maintaining a military presence south of the Litani River, which is located about 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hezbollah has largely violated the resolution, and Israeli leaders have said they will not tolerate the continued violation of this because they have evacuated tens of thousands of civilians who live in the communities near the Israel-Lebanon border. Gallant said on Monday they wanted the situation resolved diplomatically but would not hesitate to do it militarily if needed.
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“We are determined to create a new reality, restoring our security in the area, based on U.N. Resolution 1701, pushing back Hezbollah. We will bring back the residents of the north to their homes on the border after full security will be restored,” he said. “We prefer to do so via understanding, ensuring that the border region is clear of terrorists and does not allow the direct threats of our citizens. If such a process will not be implemented diplomatically, we will not hesitate to act.”
In addition to Hezbollah, Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq have attacked U.S. troops, while the Houthis in Yemen have launched a coordinated effort to attack commercial vessels in the nearby waterways. The U.S. has yet to respond militarily to the Houthi attacks, though the U.S. and the United Kingdom have moved military personnel near Yemen.
