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US Air Force B-1B bombers, F-16 fighter jets and South Korean Air Force F-35A take part in a joint air drill
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to move faster to the Middle East and send a guided missile submarine there.
The order came after Austin talked on the phone with Yoav Galant, the Israeli minister of defense, on Sunday evening. Tensions were rising after high-level members of Hamas and the Iran-backed Hezbollah were killed.
The Pentagon said in a statement that Austin “reiterated the United States’ commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of rising regional tensions.”
According to a US military post on social media, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia was already in the Mediterranean Sea in July. However, the US doesn’t usually let the public know when a submarine is deployed.
The Abraham Lincoln has been in the Asia-Pacific region and was already sent to the Middle East to take the place of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which is about to start its journey home.
Austin said last week that it would be in the area by the end of the month. Fighter jets F-35 and F/A-18 are on board the ship.
The US military has already said it will send more fighter planes and warships to the Middle East to help Israel defend itself against a possible attack by Iran.
Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, the group that runs Gaza and has Iran’s support, was killed in Tehran on July 31. Iran blamed Israel and said it would fight back. Israel hasn’t said who is to blame.
Fuad Shukr, the top military leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut the same week Haniyeh was killed. This made people worry that the conflict in Gaza could turn into a regional war.
It was the day before the US news that at least 90 people were killed and nearly 50 were hurt when Israel attacked a school in Gaza that had been turned into a shelter.
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