After an attack by Syria, the U.S. extends its carrier deployment.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The United States has decided to keep the George H.W. Bush carrier strike group in place longer. This is to give policymakers more options after Iran-backed forces killed dozens of people in Syria last week.

The decision probably means that the Bush strike group and its more than 5,000 U.S. troops, who are currently in the operational area of the European Command, will not return to their home port in the U.S. on time.

U.S. The extension of the carrier group was first reported by Reuters. Colonel Joe Buccino, a spokesman for Central Command (CENTCOM), confirmed the news.

Buccino said in a statement, "The extension of the George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group, which includes the USS Leyte Gulf, the USS Delbert D. Black, and the USNS Arctic, gives CENTCOM more options to improve its ability to respond to a variety of situations in the Middle East." The group is made up of the USS Leyte Gulf, the USS Delbert D. Black, and the USNS Arctic.

Buccino also said that a squadron of A-10 attack planes would be sent to the area quickly and on schedule.

One U.S. official, who did not want to be named, said that the Bush strike group was likely to stay in the area of responsibility of the European Command.

The news of the deployment came a day after the Pentagon said that six U.S. military personnel had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries. This brought the total number of American troops hurt in last week's attacks in Syria to 12.

One American contractor was killed and another was hurt in the attacks.

Last week, President Joe Biden told Iran that the US would take strong action to protect Americans. The Pentagon estimates that eight militants were killed when the U.S. attacked two Iranian-linked facilities in Syria in retaliation for the first attack on a U.S. base near the Syrian city of Hasaka on March 23.

The White House said on Monday that the events would not cause the U.S. to pull out of Syria, where American troops and local Kurdish-led partners have been fighting Islamic State for almost eight years.

Still, Russia, Ukraine, and the Asia-Pacific are more important to U.S. national security than the Middle East. This is despite the fact that the U.S. has been involved in the Middle East for 20 years as part of its global war on terrorism.

Because of this, the number of U.S. military people and assets in the Middle East has gone down overall.