Defense Sec Austin Recovering After Hospital Visit

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized Monday after complications from a medical procedure, the Pentagon said Friday.

Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday night “for complications following a recent elective medical procedure,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said in a statement Friday, without providing details on the nature of the complications or the duration of the hospital stay.

“He is recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today,” Ryder said.

Austin’s hospitalization comes at a time of high tensions in the Middle East that are linked to the Israel-Hamas war, with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea and other Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria targeting US troops with rockets and drones.

On Thursday, a U.S. airstrike killed an Iranian-backed commander in Baghdad whom the military accused of involvement in attacks on American forces.

“At all times, the deputy secretary of defense was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the secretary, if required,” Ryder said, without specifying if that had been necessary.