US MILITARY PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE ISRAEL DEPLOYMENT: REPORT

Mon 16 October 2023:

Citing unnamed defence officials, The Wall Street Journal has reported that the US military has earmarked approximately 2,000 servicemembers for a potential deployment to Israel.

If deployed, the troops would not be used for combat but would be assigned to advise and offer medical support to their Israeli counterparts, among other tasks, the newspaper said.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it has no plans for putting “US boots on the ground” in the Israel-Hamas war.

“What we have done is sent experts from across our government to the region to consult and advise with their Israeli counterparts,” White House principal deputy national security advisor Jon Finer told MSNBC last week.

Details emerged on Monday after the Department of Defense said the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group, which deployed from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday, is on its way.

She will join the USS Gerald R. Ford, which arrived off the coast of Israel last week.

The presence of two of the Navy’s most powerful warships will send a clear signal to Iran and its regional proxies, such as Hezbollah, not to escalate the conflict.

It comes as Israel continues to mass troops and military hardware around the Gaza Strip, from where Hamas gunmen launched a surprise assault on Israel, killing at least 1,300 people.

Officials cited by the Wall Street Journal also said some 2,000 troops were being prepared to deploy in a sign that Washington was ready to assist Israeli troops in the event of a ground invasion of Gaza.

President Joe Biden abandoned plans to travel to Colorado to deliver a speech on ‘Bidenomics’ on Monday.

Instead he huddled with key national security officials.

Iran told Israel via the United Nations it would intervene if operations in Gaza continued, a report claimed, as Israel readied a ‘wide range of offensive operational plans’ including a ‘joint and coordinated attack [on Gaza] from the air, sea and land.’

Diplomatic sources told Axios that while Iran did not want the conflict to escalate, it was prepared to intervene either directly or indirectly, such as via a military group in Syria or Lebanon.