Two US Amphibious Assault Ships Head to Med via Suez

ISMAILIA, Egypt, March 1 — Two U.S. amphibious assault ships, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce, will pass through Egypt's Suez Canal to the Mediterranean on Wednesday morning, an Egyptian official said on Tuesday.

The United States had said on Monday it was moving ships and planes closer to Libya, where a revolt against Muammar Gaddafi's rule is under way. The Kearsarge can carry 2,000 Marines.

The repositioning of U.S. ships and aircraft closer to Libya is widely seen as a symbolic show of force, because neither the United States nor its NATO allies have shown any appetite for direct military intervention in the turmoil that has seen Gaddafi lose control of big swathes of the North African state.

On Monday, the USS Barry, a destroyer, moved through the Suez Canal and was now in the southwestern Mediterranean.

The White House said ships were being redeployed in preparation for possible humanitarian efforts. But it stressed it "was not taking any options off the table" — diplomatic language that signals military action is still a possibility.

But beyond flexing military muscle and freezing a record $30 billion in Libyan assets, Washington has limited influence on events inside Libya. Republican lawmakers and others have pressed President Barack Obama to do more militarily, but they have focused mainly on imposing a "no-fly" zone.