"The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) departed Haifa, Israel, May 12, upon completing a scheduled port visit to enhance US-Israel relations," the release stated. "The ship's presence in the Mediterranean Sea is a demonstration of the US Navy's continued commitment to collective security for regional partners."
Ross' senior officers met with the chief of Israel's Naval Operations, the Charge d'Affaires from the US Embassy Tel Aviv, and the senior planner for the Israeli Defense Force, the release explained.
On April 7, Ross fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat airbase in Syria, according to published reports. The airbase is thought by the United States to be the site from which a Syrian jet carried out a chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun on April 4.
Ross in currently operating in the Navy's 6th Fleet area of operations, which covers about half of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to Antarctica; as well as the Adriatic, Baltic, Barents, Black, Caspian, Mediterranean and North seas.
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