CENTCOM chief back in Israel amid fears of Iran, Hezbollah attack
US Air Force F-22 Raptors arrived in the Middle East on Thursday as the Pentagon gears up to fend off an anticipated retaliatory attack by Iran and its proxies against Israel for the assassination of a top Hamas leader in Tehran last week.
WASHINGTON — The top commander of US military forces in the Middle East, Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, returned to Israel on Thursday to meet with defense officials ahead of an expected multifront attack by Iran and various militias it has armed throughout the region.
The visit marked Kurilla’s second to Israel in just three days as he tours US-aligned capitals in the region to coordinate air and maritime defense ahead of the anticipated attack. His latest stop was first reported by Axios.
Iran’s leadership has vowed to respond to the killing of Hamas’ late political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion at an IRGC guest house in Tehran last week.
The Biden administration has rallied international pressure in hope of dissuading Iran’s leaders from authorizing a major retaliation for Haniyeh’s killing, which Western and Arab officials fear could spiral into a wider regional war.
To support that effort, the Pentagon has rushed additional forces to the region, including an additional aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, Navy destroyers capable of downing ballistic missiles and an undisclosed number of highly advanced F-22 fighter aircraft.
The F-22s arrived in-region on Thursday, US CENTCOM said in a statement. Another aircraft carrier already in theater, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, forward deployed F/A-18 aircraft ahead of the arrival of the F-22s.
Those assets join at least a dozen other US and allied warships, as well as fighter aircraft already in the Mediterranean and Gulf waterways. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin late last week also authorized the readying of land-based ballistic missile interception systems for potential deployment.
"Everything that we're doing is defensive in nature," Pentagon deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Thursday of the new deployments. Singh declined to say whether that might change if US troops in the region come under attack.
Singh called the F-22s an "invaluable" asset for the situation. "I think it sends a very powerful message of deterrence," she added.
US officials have warned Iran’s leadership of potentially devastating economic consequences for their country and instability for its incoming government should they authorize a major retaliation against Israel that triggers escalation, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
