US sending aircraft, warships in support of Israel

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Friday ordered additional combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the Middle East (Israel) in response to threats from Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen to attack Israel in the coming days to avenge the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the Pentagon said.

The military will send one additional squadron of Air Force F-22 fighter jets, an unspecified number of additional Navy cruisers and destroyers capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, and, if needed, more land-based ballistic-missile defense systems, The New York Times reported.

To maintain the presence of an aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships in the region, Mr. Austin also directed the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, now in the eastern Pacific, to relieve the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the next couple of weeks when it is scheduled to return home.

Some ships already in the western Mediterranean Sea will move east, closer to the coast of Israel to provide more security, a senior Pentagon official said.

“Secretary Austin has ordered adjustments to U.S. military posture designed to improve U.S. force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies,” Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.

The statement did not specify when the additional warplanes and combatant vessels would arrive, but officials said on Friday it would be a matter of days for the additional aircraft and somewhat longer for the naval reinforcements.

Earlier on Friday, officials were still deciding how many additional planes and warships to send. Officials said they were seeking to calibrate the American response to send enough of the right types of aircraft and ships as quickly as possible to help defend Israel without appearing to escalate the conflict.

The Pentagon is also bracing for the possibility that Iran-backed groups, including the Houthis in Yemen and Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, might target American troops in the region as part of the expected Iranian retaliation for the killing of Mr. Haniyeh this week.