US adds to military deployments to protect Israel from Iran retaliation

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The US is sending additional warships and fighter jets to the Middle East as Washington seeks to boost its defences ahead of a possible Iranian attack against Israel by Iran and its proxy forces, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The Pentagon detailed the reinforced presence after US President Joe Biden informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Washington’s plans to help protect Israel in the event of an attack. The Biden administration also continued to urge a de-escalation of regional tensions and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary, “has ordered adjustments to US military posture designed to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defence of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies”, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement.

Austin directed additional warships that can shoot down ballistic missiles and fighter jets to the region as well as to Europe, she said.

The US already has other military resources in the region, such as the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship that can help with quick responses and possible evacuations.

The stepped-up US posture comes amid growing concerns that Iran and other allied militant groups are set to retaliate for the killings this week of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from Lebanon-based Hizbollah.

Israel has claimed responsibility for the air strike that killed Shukr in south Beirut but has neither confirmed nor denied any link to the assassination of Haniyeh.

The White House said Biden and Netanyahu spoke about “efforts to support Israel’s defence against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones,” which also included “new defensive US military deployments”.

Austin also spoke Friday with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant about the threats from Iran and the additional steps the US was taking to support Israel. “Secretary Austin highlighted that further escalation is not inevitable,” Singh said.

The US president reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security, yet later stressed the need for Netanyahu to seize the opportunity for a ceasefire deal in Gaza that could help lower tensions across the region.

“I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister. We have the basis for a ceasefire. They should move on it and move on it now,” Biden told reporters on Thursday night at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland.

He added that the killing of Haniyeh had “not helped” the prospects of reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas, which mediators hope will halt the 10-month-old conflict in Gaza, release the Israeli hostages still in captivity, and avert a full-blown regional war.

Haniyeh was Hamas’s main interlocutor with mediators and was pushing for compromise, according to a diplomat briefed on the talks.

UK defence secretary John Healey arrived in Israel on Friday after visiting Doha and Beirut, in a bid to de-escalate tensions as well.

The US, UK and other regional allies came to Israel’s aid in April, coordinating a successful air defence campaign after Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at the Jewish state.

That barrage marked the first time the Islamic Republic had directly attacked Israel from its own soil, and came in retaliation for an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria that killed several senior Iranian military officers.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Thursday that the country’s “international partners . . . have increased their forces in the region to assist us against” the threat of a co-ordinated Iranian attack.

“[W]e have proven that the State of Israel knows how to defensively deal with threats, and to respond powerfully on the offence,” he added.

Hizbollah began firing on northern Israel in “solidarity” with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s attack last October 7 triggered the Gaza war and led to Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive in the shattered enclave.

The near-daily clashes between Israel and Hizbollah had been relatively contained until a deadly rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday killed 12 children and teenagers. Israel then responded with the targeted killing of Shukr in Beirut.

During Shukr’s funeral ceremony on Thursday, Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to respond severely and hinted that the regional conflict sparked by the Gaza war was set to expand even further.

“We’ve moved beyond just a support front. This is an open battle on all fronts . . . a new phase,” he said, adding that [any further] escalation would “depend on the enemy’s reactions”.

Cartography by Ian Bott