US Central Command (CENTCOM) today confirmed the deployment of F-22 fighter jets to its area of operations, which includes the Persian Gulf, justified by the need to respond to possible threats from Iran and its allies.
The F-22 Raptor fighters arrived today in the "area of responsibility" of CENTCOM - which guarantees US interests in several countries in the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf and Central Asia - "as part of changes in the position of US forces in the region to mitigate the possibility of a regional escalation by Iran or its partners", the Command said in a post on social media.
The reinforcement of the United States' military presence in the Middle East and neighboring areas occurs in a context in which fears are growing of a regional escalation by the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah and other organizations close to Iran in solidarity with the Palestinian population and in response to the constant attacks by Israel.
Iranian officials have increased threats of a response against Israel, which has not yet commented on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on July 31, when he was in Tehran, and attributed to Israeli forces.
The pro-Iranian Hezbollah, a Lebanese ally of the Palestinian Islamist movement, has also vowed to retaliate against the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh and his military commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed on July 30 in an Israeli strike in Beirut.
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist group on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which caused around 1,200 deaths and more than two hundred hostages, according to Tel Aviv authorities.
According to the Israeli army, of the 251 people kidnapped, 111 remain held in Gaza, of whom 39 have already died.
The Israeli army responded with a devastating military campaign of reprisals in Gaza that has already left nearly 40,000 dead - including at least 14,000 children -, around 92,000 injured and an undetermined number under the rubble, according to the Health Ministry of the enclave, controlled by Hamas.
