This handout picture released by the Israeli army on August 5, 2024, shows the head of the US military command covering the Middle East, General Michael Kurilla (C-R), meeting with Israel's military chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, in Tel Aviv. (Credit: Israeli army/AFP)
Advanced American F-22 stealth warplanes arrived in the Middle East on Thursday, the US military said, as Washington boosts its forces in the region ahead of an expected Iranian counterattack on Israel.
The deployment is part of "force posture changes in the region to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or its proxies," U.S. Central Command said on social media, without specifying the number or exact location of the planes.
The Pentagon said last week that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered assets including additional warships and a fighter squadron to the region.
Seven American personnel were wounded in a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this week that Washington blamed on an Iran-backed militia group.
Tehran and its allies are expected to launch an attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukur in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israel has taken responsibility for the attack on Shukur yet remained quiet about that in Tehran. However, Iran and its proxies blame Israel for the attack. Additionally, Yemen's Huthis have threatened reprisal for the July 20 Israeli attack on Houdeida.
The killings are among the most serious in a series of tit-for-tat attacks that have heightened fears of a regional conflagration stemming from the Gaza war.
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