US amphibious assault ship docks at Greek Cypriot administration’s Limassol port

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA (AA) - The US amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1), which has aircraft-carrying capabilities, docked at the Limassol Port in the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus on Friday.

“We welcome the USS Wasp (LHD 1) and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit back to Limassol for scheduled replenishment and much-deserved down time for the officers and crew,” Julie Davis Fisher, the US envoy in the Greek Cypriot administration, said on X.

“The WASP is in the Eastern Mediterranean to deter aggression and support regional stability,” Fisher said.

Fisher did not provide information on when the ship would leave the Greek Cypriot administration.

The USS Wasp (LHD) had previously docked at Limassol Port in late July, with the ship said to have been in the Eastern Mediterranean to assist with potential evacuations of American citizens and other missions from Lebanon amid hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

The ship is equipped with MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft and AV-8B Harrier fighter jets.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start last year of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,800 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

In Israeli attacks in Lebanon, at least 1,947 people have since been killed, nearly 9,400 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Celik in Ankara