US Navy carrier departing Persian Gulf region

WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. is bringing an aircraft carrier home from the Persian Gulf region, the Defense Department said Friday, after keeping two of the warships there for months as the Obama administration considered a military strike on Syria.

The decision to bring back the USS Nimitz underscores the shift from a pointed military threat against the Syrian government to a broader diplomatic approach. It comes as international experts work to meet a mid-2014 deadline to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons program.

According to officials, the Nimitz moved through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea, and is expected to be back at its home port on the West Coast before Christmas. The Navy destroyer the USS Graveley also has left the Mediterranean Sea and is returning home.

The U.S. sharply increased its Navy presence in the region after a deadly Aug. 21 chemical weapon attack on rebel-held Damascus suburbs. Washington and its allies said the Syrian government was responsible for the attack.

The U.S. spread cruisers and destroyers across the eastern Mediterranean, waiting for the command to launch missiles into Syria. But after threatening military action, President Barack Obama on Aug. 31 abruptly announced he would go to Congress for approval of a strike.

After vocal opposition in Congress, the U.S. and allies increased diplomatic efforts, ultimately securing the right for experts to inspect chemical weapons sites in Syria as part of a mission to destroy all facilities and machinery for mixing the chemicals into poison gas.

Syria is believed to possess around 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and sarin.

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman remains in the North Arabian Sea, and three U.S. warships the USS Stout and the USS Ramage, both destroyers, and the USS Monterey, a cruiser are in the eastern Mediterranean.

Navy and defense officials said Friday that the U.S. still has a sufficient expanse of military firepower in the region.