WASHINGTON — The US Department of Defense will send a squadron of fighters to middle East and will maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon reported on Friday, reinforcing the presence military American to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its allies and to safeguard American troops.
In a statement, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered the dispatch of more cruisers and destroyers with ballistic missile defense capabilities to the regions of Europa and the Middle East, and will take steps to send more ground-based ballistic missile defense weapons.
The changes come at a time when U.S. leaders fear an escalation of violence in the Middle East in response to recent Israeli attacks on leaders of the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups that have triggered threats of retaliation.
The United States plans to strengthen its defensive capabilities in the Middle East to protect American forces and help defend Israel, the Pentagon said Friday.
Austin will lead multiple moves “to bolster the protection of U.S. forces across the region, provide increased support for the defense of Israel, and ensure the United States is prepared to respond to this crisis,” said Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.
Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday, an action it said was a response to rocket fire last week in the annexed Golan Heights that left 12 dead.
Hours later, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital, an attack on which Israel has yet to comment although the group and Iran attribute it to Israeli forces.
A source close to Hezbollah said Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday with representatives of the so-called “axis of resistance,” an informal alliance of Tehran-backed terrorist groups hostile to Israel, to discuss their next steps.
“Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a phased response from each side,” the source said.
In April, Iran carried out its first direct attack on Israeli soil, firing a barrage of drones and missiles after an attack blamed on Israel killed officers of the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic State’s ideological army, at Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.
US forces helped defend Israel against the attack.
Source: With information from AP and AFP