NEW YORK, August 2. /TASS/. The US is preparing to send additional combat aircraft to the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region, the New York Times writes.
According to the newspaper, the plan stems from the possibility of an Iranian strike on Israel following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in Tehran.
A US military official told the paper that "American forces in the Middle East were taking ‘necessary measures’ to increase combat readiness."
How many planes to send is still being worked out, the New York Times notes.
On July 31, Hamas reported Haniyeh's death in an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he had attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath TV channel reported that Haniyeh had been killed in a direct missile strike. Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau, vowed that Haniyeh’s killing would not go unanswered. A sourcer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told TASS that the Israeli military did not comment on reports of Haniyeh’s death.