WASHINGTON, August 4. /TASS/. The commander of the US Armed Forces Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael E. Kurilla, arrived in the Middle East region on August 3 amid US and allied preparations for a possible Iranian attack on Israel, which the country may carry out soon, the Axios news outlet reported, citing sources.

According to them, the head of CENTCOM will visit several Gulf countries, Jordan and Israel and try to mobilize international and regional allies to jointly repel a potential strike from Iran. In doing so, Jordan is expected to be the highlight of Kurilla’s trip, as it played a major role in intercepting Iranian drones flying toward Israel on April 13, according to sources.

Axios pointed out that the US and Israeli sides do not know whether Iran and the Shiite Hezbollah movement will decide to carry out the operation together. The sources said that the attack is expected on Monday.

Earlier, the Pentagon announced that it was sending additional forces to the Middle East region to defend Israel, including cruisers and destroyers capable of providing ballistic missile defense. The US is also preparing to deploy additional ground-based missile defenses.

Tensions in the Middle East have escalated in recent days following the assassination in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, and the liquidation in Beirut of Hezbollah military chief Fouad Shokr. Hamas and Hezbollah blamed Israel for the incidents and said they would not leave them unanswered.