The U.S. military made several moves on Oct. 8 to bolster Israeli security in the wake of attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah, including shipping munitions to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), augmenting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region and moving an aircraft carrier strike group into the eastern Mediterranean.
The moves announced by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin came a day after a multi-domain, terrorizing assault by Hamas on Israeli civilians and military bases near the Gaza Strip and mortar attacks by Hezbollah on the norther border.
The Hamas attack by air, land, and sea killed more 600 Israelis, wounded over 1,000 more, and resulted in scores of hostages carried into Gaza.
By releasing more military equipment to the IDF and bolstering the U.S. military presence in the region, the Pentagon is signalling the “United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defence Forces and the Israeli people,” Austin said in a statement.
The U.S. Air Force will augment the “F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 aircraft squadrons in the region,” says a Pentagon statement.
The statement appears to reverse the plan for the F-35s in the Middle East. A contingent had been assigned in the Middle East for several months, but the last of the fighters in the deployed group had been returning to the U.S. the day before Hamas launched its assault from the Gaza Strip.
Within eight hours of the Hamas attack, Austin had pledged to ramp-up deliveries of U.S. military equipment to the IDF.
“The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days,” says the Pentagon statement.
Carrier Strike Group 12, which includes Carrier Air Wing 8 aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier had been operating in the Mediterranean Sea already but will move into the eastern half that borders the coastlines of Israel and Gaza. The air wing includes four squadrons of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and one squadron of Boeing EA-18Gs.
The strike group is composed also of several surface-launched missile platforms, including the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy and four Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.
The Israeli Air Force has launched a series of strikes at targets in Gaza, killing hundreds in the densely populated Palestinian enclave. In one wave of air strikes on Oct. 8, Israeli fighters hit 120 targets in Beit Hanoun, the northeastern-most community in Gaza, the national air force said. [aviationweek.com]
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