The United States appears to be reinforcing its presence in the Middle East ahead of an expected Iranian attack on Israel, with the American military confirming Thursday that F-15 fighter planes have arrived in the region.
“Today, US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles from the 492nd Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, England, arrive in the US Central Command area of responsibility,” the military command responsible for the Middle East said on social media.
The aircraft join the B-52 Stratofortress bombers, tanker aircraft and Navy destroyers that US Defense Lloyd Austin ordered to deploy to the Middle East earlier this week, as well as the advanced THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, system to that the US rushed to Israel last month.
The anti-missile system is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defense systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defenses amid indications of an imminent Iranian response to Israel’s recent retaliatory strike.
According to two Israeli sources cited in Axios, Israeli intelligence has indicated Iran would launch its attack as soon as this week from Iraq, where the Islamic Republic sustains militias that are part of its “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.
Washington has warned Baghdad of an Israeli reprisal if the Iranian attack were to come from Iraq, the news site reported Wednesday, citing two US officials.
Baghdad’s military on Wednesday pushed back on the reports, saying they were “false pretexts” aimed at justifying aggression against Iraq.
Iran has vowed a “punishing” reprisal to Israel’s October 26 airstrikes, which Jerusalem said took out the Islamic Republic’s air defenses and missile production capabilities.
Israel’s strikes were in retaliation to Iran’s October 1 barrage of 200 ballistic missiles, which forced most of the country to take shelter and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank. Days earlier, Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime head of Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah. Israel also killed Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas — another of Iran’s beneficiaries — in Tehran.
On Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran’s network of terror proxies remained strong despite the killing of many of their senior leaders.
The “leaders of the resistance” are “still fighting,” he said, according to a report on Iran’s state television.
“God willing, the world will see a day when the Zionist regime will be defeated by them,” he added, referring to Israel.
The October 1 attack was Iran’s second-ever direct attack on Israel, having launched some 300 missiles and drones at Israel in April, after a decades-long shadow war.
Source » timesofisrael