A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group left the Red Sea for Europe weeks after Yemen’s Houthi rebel group said it will stop attacking vessels in the region. 

The USS Harry S. Truman and its embarked fighter jets arrived in Greece following two months of combat operations in the Red Sea area, the U.S. Navy said in a statement, February 6.

The move comes as the shipping industry waits for signs that vessel traffic in the Red Sea will begin to return to normal after more than a year of disruption.

While there have a been a handful of U.S. and UK ships sailing through the waterway since the Houthis said they would pause their attacks, the majority of vessels are continuing to sail thousands of miles around Africa instead. The Houthis announced a partial halt to attacks in January, in response to a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. 

Industry figures have expressed caution about any quick return to the region, although the first liquefied natural gas carrier is heading for the waterway since September 2024. 

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The carrier group had helped carry out multiple strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen as well as airstrikes against ISIS in Somalia, it said in a statement.