Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of fighter jets, naval ships and air defense forces to the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region following Israeli attacks on Iran and Lebanon.
“The Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate potential escalation of regional tensions from Iran or its partners and proxies,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement Friday. “To this end, Secretary Austin has ordered adjustments to U.S. force posture to strengthen protection for U.S. forces, enhance support for the defense of Israel, and ensure the United States is prepared to respond to a range of contingencies.”
In addition to the fighter jets, the Pentagon is sending more ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to Europe and the Middle East, taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense systems, and will continue to station the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier strike group, in the Middle East.
The order comes as the war in Gaza continues and after President Biden promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that U.S. military presence in the region would be strengthened to protect Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its allies.
The United States is currently preparing to fulfill its promises in response to Iran’s response to Wednesday’s assassination of Hamas peace negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s killing, but hours after the attack became public, Prime Minister Netanyahu defiantly said Israel was achieving its goals.
Israel claimed responsibility for the attack that killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut on Tuesday.
Such fiery rhetoric has Western nations worried the region could plunge into all-out war, and the White House stressed Wednesday that Israeli attacks are futile as the administration seeks a ceasefire against Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip.
White House national security adviser John Kirby said recent events were complicating an ongoing agreement aimed at ending a war that has killed civilians, mostly women and children, and starved territory.
