The United States will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon announced on Friday. This move is part of a US effort to boost its military presence to help defend Israel from potential attacks by Iran and its proxies.
The development comes amid US worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks by Israel on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation. The US Defense Department said Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defence weapons there.
NEWS: U.S. Will Send More Defensive Military Capabilities to Middle East https://t.co/eT6R1aKNIu— Department of Defense (@DeptofDefense) August 2, 2024
Biden-Netanyahu Call
US President Joe Biden in a call Thursday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed new US military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House. In April, US forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped down nearly all of them.
The assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut on Tuesday risk escalating the fighting into an all-out regional war, with Iran also threatening to respond after the attack on its territory. Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the group’s October 7 attack, which sparked the war.
USS Abraham Lincoln
Austin is ordering the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman but scheduled to come home later this summer. That decision suggests the Pentagon has decided to keep a carrier consistently in the region as a deterrent against Iran at least until next year.
The Pentagon did not say where the fighter jet squadron was coming from or where it would be based in the Middle East. A number of allies in the region are often willing to base US military forces but don’t want it made public. The White House in a statement said Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
All Countries In West Asia Would Benefit From De-escalation In Tensions… So We’re Sending In More Military – American LogicPentagon spox Sabrina Singh read out DefSec Lloyd Austin’s warning to Iran & “other Iranian-backed terrorist groups” of Washington’s “unprecedented… pic.twitter.com/BfjEn7Bzea
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 3, 2024
Earlier Friday, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters that Austin “will be directing multiple” force movements to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for US troops in the region. US military and defence officials have been considering a wide array of options, from additional ships and fighter aircraft squadrons to added air defense systems or unmanned assets.
The US has had a consistent warship presence there and in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including two Navy destroyers, the USS Roosevelt and the USS Bulkeley, as well as the USS Wasp and the USS New York. The Wasp and the New York are part of the amphibious ready group and carry a Marine expeditionary unit that could be used if any evacuation of U.S. personnel is required.
(With agency inputs)
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