Britain will send surveillance aircraft, two Royal Navy support ships and about 100 Royal Marines to the eastern Mediterranean from Friday to support Israel and help prevent any sudden escalation of fighting in the Middle East.
Patrol flights of Poseidon P-8 aircraft and other planes will begin on Friday, Downing St announced, tasked partly with monitoring any efforts to transfer of weapons from countries such as Iran or Russia to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Existing UK military units and fighter aircraft, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, are also on alert as Israel gears up for an expected ground assault on Gaza after last Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas, which has left more than 1,300 Israeli civilians dead. The death toll in Gaza has risen above 1,400.
How much more do they need against a cornered population? Jesus fucking Christ dude.
The entire purpose is to serve as a deterrent against a larger escalation with Hezbollah or Iran. It is highly unlikely that any non-Israeli forces will take part in actual combat or even support roles.
400K people intentionally blocked from any aid or humanitarian corridor. It’s sickening. What’s the objective here? Who can be most evil and lower the bar furthest?
1.1M people in Gaza have been advised and given a day to get south, however they figure that out. A number of people hard to imagine are about to die.
“Help prevent any sudden escalation of fighting”
It’s clear Israel was waiting for an excuse to wipe Gaza off the map.
(I do not condone the Hamas attacks, nor do I condone the response from Israel)
Are we the baddies?
The Eastern Mediterranean is getting quite crowded lately.
The term is “target rich environment” and im waiting for the trap to be sprung.
Let’s all just park our battle ships right off the coast here…nothing bad can happen right?
Happy im not the only one on this line of reasoning
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Patrol flights of Poseidon P-8 aircraft and other planes will begin on Friday, Downing St announced, tasked partly with monitoring any efforts to transfer of weapons from countries such as Iran or Russia to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Existing UK military units and fighter aircraft, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, are also on alert as Israel gears up for an expected ground assault on Gaza after last Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas, which has left more than 1,300 Israeli civilians dead.
Concern remains high that Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, may seek to open a second front from the north with the backing of its ally, Iran.
Earlier on Thursday, Syria said that its airports in Damascus and Aleppo were bombed by the Israeli air force, most likely in an effort to disrupt any supplies of weaponry bound for the group.
Earlier this week, a US aircraft carrier, the Gerald R Ford, arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, with a cruiser and four destroyers in support, aimed also at deterring any actor from “seeking to escalate the situation or widen this war”.
Downing St also said that Sunak had spoken to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, earlier on Thursday as part of an effort, No 10 said, to “understand the wider regional picture and underscore the importance of supporting civilians to leave Gaza”.
The original article contains 409 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 46%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
