The US carrier groups posted near Israel could be under threat from Hezbollah's new anti-ship missiles: report

• Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah has Russian anti-ship missiles, Reuters claims.
• The missiles could be used to target US carrier groups deployed in the Middle East, it said.

The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah has obtained Russian anti-ship missiles capable of targeting US carrier groups posted near Israel, Reuters reported.

In a speech last week Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah issued a veiled threat to the US, saying that the militant group had weapons capable of striking US warships in the region to deter attacks on Israel.

Reuters, citing unnamed sources, said that Nasrallah was talking about Russian Yakhont missiles which Hezbollah obtained while fighting alongside Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's forces in the Syrian civil war.

The missiles have a range of around 186 miles, and can be launched from ground, sea or air.

Speaking about the possibility that Hezbollah had acquired the weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters: "This is news without any confirmation at all. We do not know if it is true or not."

A US official told the outlet: "We're obviously paying a lot of attention to that... and we're taking what capabilities they have seriously."

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Hezbollah has not officially confirmed it has the missiles.

In the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks, in which Hamas militants killed 1,400 Israelis, Israel launched attacks on Gaza that killed more than 10,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

Hezbollah has clashed with Israeli forces over Israel's northern border, and Iran has menaced Israel with the prospect of attacks.

The US deployed two aircraft carrier groups to the region in a bid to stop the conflict from escalating. The USS Gerald R Ford strike group and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower are currently in the eastern Mediterranean. The Ford can carry around 75 aircraft, while the Eisenhower can carry 60.