US to ship warships to Middle East as fears of Iran-Israel battle develop | EUROtoday

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The US will ship warships and fighter jets to the Middle East to assist defend Israel amid rising fears of a battle with Iran and its proxies.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned navy cruisers and destroyers – which may shoot down ballistic missiles – in addition to fighter jets, can be deployed to the area to help Israel.

It comes after Iran vowed to actual “harsh punishment” on Israel following the suspected assassination of Hamas’s chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a blast in Tehran on Thursday.

The dying of the 62-year-old got here simply hours after Israel claimed it had killed high Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, in the identical week.

Gaza’s Hamas and Hezbollah (which controls southern Lebanon) kind a part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” – which opposes Western and Israeli affect within the area.

Israel has not claimed accountability for Haniyeh’s dying, however officers have beforehand warned they’d goal all Hamas leaders accountable for the 7 October assault on southern Israel that triggered Israel’s warfare in Gaza.

The Pentagon mentioned: “Mr Austin 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.”

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah additionally mentioned it was wanting right into a response to the killing of its chief Fuad Shukr, saying the battle had “entered a new phase that is different from the previous period”.

“Do they expect that Hajj Ismail Haniyeh will be killed in Iran and Iran will remain silent?” he mentioned of the Israelis. Addressing Israelis who celebrated the 2 killings, he mentioned, “Laugh a bit and you will cry a lot.”

But as he typically does, Nasrallah saved his feedback imprecise, vowing a “very well studied retaliation” with out saying what kind it will take. He mentioned solely that Israel “will have to wait for the anger of the region’s honorable people”.

He added: “The enemy and the one who is behind the enemy [an apparent reference to Israel’s chief ally, the United States] will have to wait for our coming response.”

The US navy stepped-up deployments earlier than, on 13 April, when Iran launched an assault on Israel with drones and missiles. Israel and its allies shot down virtually all of roughly 300 drones and missiles that have been fired.

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a faculty sheltering displaced individuals in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, the Hamas run-government media workplace mentioned.

In the occupied West Bank, a Hamas commander and 4 Islamic Jihad fighters have been additionally killed in an Israeli airstrike, based on the militant group.

At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed within the Israeli navy marketing campaign in Gaza. The offensive was triggered by a Hamas assault on southern Israel on 7 October through which 1,200 folks have been killed and 250 kidnapped.