Austin will send fighters and maintain an aircraft carrier group in the Middle East to defend Israel

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a squadron of fighter jets, Navy ships and air defenses to the Middle East amid rising regional tensions over Israeli strikes in Iran and Lebanon.

“The Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran’s partners and proxies,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement Friday. “To that end, Secretary Austin has ordered adjustments to the U.S. military posture designed to improve the protection of U.S. forces, increase support for Israel’s defense, and ensure that the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies.”

In addition to the fighters, the Pentagon will send more cruisers and destroyers with ballistic missile defense capabilities to the European and Middle Eastern regions, take steps to deploy more land-based ballistic missile defenses, and maintain the presence of a strike group of aircraft carriers in the Middle East. , the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The order comes after President Biden on Thursday promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would increase the American military presence in the region to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its allies amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

The United States is currently preparing for Tehran to fulfill its promise to respond to the assassination of Hamas peace negotiator Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday in Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, but hours after the attack became public, Netanyahu made defiant comments, saying Israel is achieving its goals.

Israel claimed responsibility for a Tuesday attack in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander.

The intense rhetoric has the West worried that the region could spark an all-out war, with the White House stressing on Wednesday that Israeli strikes are not helpful as the administration seeks a ceasefire agreement for a relentless air campaign. and Israeli land in the Gaza Strip.

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said recent developments complicate the pending agreement aimed at ending the war that has killed largely civilians, mostly women and children, and driven the territory into famine.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story