US aircraft carrier battle group returns home after fighting Houthis in the Red Sea

• A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle group that has fought the Houthis for months is finally returning home.
• The Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier battle group left the Middle East on Saturday, the Pentagon said.
• It will soon be replaced by the carrier battle group USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle group that fought the Houthis in the Red Sea is finally returning home after spending months in the region protecting shipping lanes from relentless attacks by Iran-backed rebels.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group departed the Middle East on Saturday and will remain briefly in the U.S. European Command area of ​​responsibility before returning to the United States. Its deployment will not be extended for a third time.

His withdrawal comes after “more than seven months of deployment in support of U.S. regional deterrence and force protection efforts,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group, operating in the Indo-Pacific region, will soon head to the Middle East to relieve the battle group.

The Eisenhower battle group – which consists of the aircraft carrier Ike and several other warships – was originally deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in October, but was quickly diverted to the Middle East to protect shipping lanes from relentless Houthi attacks.

Since then, the Eisenhower strike group has intercepted numerous missiles and drones – both from the air and sea – and launched direct attacks on Yemen’s rebels, using a mix of joint attacks with the British military and pre-emptive strikes aimed at eliminating a threat before the Houthis can launch it.

“During its deployment, the IKE CSG protected vessels transiting the Red Sea, Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden, rescued innocent sailors from unlawful attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis and helped prevent further aggression,” Ryder said.

The restructuring of American naval assets comes amid concerns about the long-term sustainability of operations against the Houthis. US intelligence agencies indicated last month that the Houthis threat was likely to persist for some time, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had already extended the deployment of the Eisenhower battle group twice.

During its deployment to the Red Sea, the battle group fired more than 500 firearms with a total value of approximately $1 billion, logged more than 55,000 miles, and its aircraft flew more than 30,000 hours.

Despite the presence of the Eisenhower, the Houthis continue to attack shipping routes. In June alone, the rebels attacked several merchant ships, including one with a naval drone for the first time since the start of their campaign in the fall.

Ryder, meanwhile, said the Roosevelt battle group will leave the Indo-Pacific region and sail for the Middle East after completing a scheduled exercise next week “to continue to promote regional stability, deter aggression and protect the free flow of commerce in the region.”