Is it all planned?
Bibi went to the USA -
when he got back -  Israel launched 2 provocative hit jobs and now it's all on.
The USA is backing it up.



https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-sending-more-fighter-jets-and-warships-to-midea...




Pentagon announces it will also keep an aircraft carrier in the region; TV report says Israel is close to reprising the coalition that helped defend against Iranian attack in April
By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 3:18 am

The US will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said Friday, beefing up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and safeguard US troops.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense weapons there, the Pentagon said in a statement Friday evening.

The shifts make good on a promise President Joe Biden made to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a call Thursday, Biden discussed new US military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House. In April, US forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped down nearly all of them.

US leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation. Iran also has threatened to respond after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in Beirut.

Israel has claimed responsibility for killing Shukr, but has not officially commented on Haniyeh, whose death Hamas, Iran and their allies have blamed on the Jewish state. Israeli leaders have pledged to kill the leaders over the terror group’s devastating October 7 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.

MeisterEckhart wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2024 at 3:20pm:



What if: Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen hit back before
the 12 warships and aircraft carrier arrive?

The war could start any second now.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/02/politics/us-warships-middle-east-brace-irania...




Oren Liebermann
By Oren Liebermann, CNN
3 minute read
Updated 7:57 PM EDT, Fri August 2, 2024




Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) sails the Pacific Ocean.




The US is sending a carrier strike group, a fighter squadron and additional warships to the Middle East as the region braces for an Iranian retaliation to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.

It is perhaps the largest movement of US forces to the region since the early days of the Gaza war, when the Pentagon sent two carrier strike groups toward the Middle East in a very public warning to regional militant groups not to expand the fighting.

“We’ve heard the Supreme Leader loud and clear that he intends to avenge this killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran, and that they want to conduct another attack on Israel,” John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, told CNN. “We can’t just assume that we are also potentially going to be victims of that kind of an attack, so we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the right resources and capabilities in the region.”

On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, which is currently operating in the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.

In addition, destroyers and cruisers capable of ballistic missile defense will also be sent to the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. The statement does not say which warships have been sent, but two US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea took part in intercepting the barrage of strikes Iran launched against Israel in April.

Austin also ordered the deployment of a fighter squadron to the region, Singh said.

The US already has the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship in the region, which operates with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, capable of carrying out an evacuation of US citizens in Lebanon should it be ordered.

MeisterEckhart wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2024 at 4:30pm:



But:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/31/irans-khamenei-vows-harsh-punishment-fo...



Supreme leader says avenging Haniyeh’s assassination is Tehran’s duty as Iran announces three days of mourning.



“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest in our house and made us bereaved,” Khamenei said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that “it also prepared the ground for a harsh punishment for itself.”


He said it was Iran’s duty to avenge the assassination of Haniyeh, who was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“We consider it our duty to avenge his blood in this bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said, as he offered his condolences to Haniyeh’s family and the Palestinian group.

Iran has announced three days of public mourning across the country for Haniyeh.

A funeral ceremony will be held in Iran on Thursday, after which Haniyeh’s body will be transferred to Doha, Qatar, Hamas said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

He will be buried in the Qatari capital on Friday, the group announced.

Israel has yet to comment on the attack but has previously promised to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders after the October 7 attack on southern Israel which led to the killing of about 1,139 people and triggered Israel’s war on Gaza, which has so far killed more than 39,400 people.

Israeli media reported that ministers and officials were told not to comment on Haniyeh’s killing.

MeisterEckhart wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2024 at 4:44pm:



No but it depends if Iran hits Tel Aviv:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/3/israels-war-on-gaza-live-us-sen...


Nobody wants this to spiral out of control.

There could just be the slightest, most minute miscalculation that could tip this into an all-out war.
Especially if Iran targets a heavily populated civilian area, and Israel feels the need to respond.
Nobody wants this to turn out to be something bigger, but it could be. And that is why everybody is focused on de-escalation.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-813092




An Israeli official claimed that Iran's attack was predicted to be more extreme compared
to April's and could extend to Israeli interests abroad.


By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
AUGUST 3, 2024 08:46
Updated: AUGUST 3, 2024 09:26


The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations told CBS News in an exclusive on Friday that the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah would begin deliberately targeting Israeli civilians - claiming that it had not done so until now.

Hezbollah has reportedly decided to increase its targets in attacks in response to the assassination of its commander, Fuad Shukr.

"Until now, Hezbollah and the regime have, in an unwritten understanding, practically adhered to certain limits in their military operations, meaning that confining their actions to border areas and shallow zones, targeting primarily military objectives,"  a spokesperson from the delegation told CBS News. "However, the regime's attack on Dahieh in Beirut and the targeting of a residential building marked a deviation from these boundaries. We anticipate that, in its response, Hezbollah will choose both broader and deeper targets, and will not restrict itself solely to military targets and means."

Thanks for moving and merging that Set.

Greggy doesn't check first before posting.
I was posting the same story.

Laugh till you cry wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2024 at 6:50pm:


Maybe they are planning to fly all the Israelis in that have been stranded in Cyprus by Lufthansa clamoring to get into Israel.