Defense officials have told NBC that U.S. forces are moving closer to the Eastern Mediterranean to facilitate the evacuation of U.S. persons from Lebanon if Israel initiated a full scale invasion.
According to those officials, the USS Wasp, a multipurpose amphibious assault ship will lead the Noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO). The 26th Marine Expeditionary Group has been preparing for a deployment to facilitate a NEO in the Middle East for the past few months.
In 2022, the U.S. State Department estimated that 80,000 USPERS resided in Lebanon and a large number of those would need to be evacuated if the country disintegrated into full-scale warfare, not to mention the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
USS Wasp (LHD-1) is a United States Navy-multipurpose amphibious assault ship, and the lead ship of her class. In addition to the crew of more than 1,000, the vessel can fit an additional 1,800 onboard.
