Updated

An aircraft carrier strike group is arriving home after a long deployment in the Middle East.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived Friday in Norfolk to cheers from hundreds of spouses and children clutching balloons and flowers and waving signs. More than 6,000 sailors spent seven months away.

The strike group had provided security and launched fighter planes that carried out missions against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

In October, missiles launched from the Yemeni coast failed to strike the American ships. They defended themselves with Tomahawk missiles that were launched against three radar sites in Yemen.