It seems the US is engaged in overt and secret (back channel) string-pulling in an attempt to delay Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Benefitting Israel are the 2 USS Ford and USS Eisenhower carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean (with aircraft, anti-missile missiles, and 2,000 embarked Marines). These carrier groups are serving as a warning to forces in Iran (eg. Iran’s strategic Missile forces) and in Syria and Lebanon, not to attack Israel.
The carrier groups also serve to dissuade Israel from any attempt to conflate the war with Hamas into a reason to bomb Iran. Israel, particularly Prime Minister Netanyahu, has wished to bomb (or use long range missiles against) Iran's nuclear weapons capable infrastructure for decades.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carney (DDG-64) is an escort in the USS Gerald
R. Forde carrier group - a group now serving in the eastern Mediterranean. Carney appears to have been detached south through the
Suez Canal and into the Red Sea to meet any threats.
On October 19 October 2023 Carney reportedly shot down 4
cruise missiles and 15 drones over a period of 9 hours.[16].
These were believed to have been fired by Houthi militants (in this case working as proxies for Iran) in Yemen. Although the targets
were uncertain, the missiles and drones were shot down because they were headed
north along the Red Sea in the direction of Israel amid rising
tensions in the region during the Israel–Hamas war.[15]
Low-key US Special Forces and others in Syria are disrupting the supply of arms from Iran travelling to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Arms, including missiles, that might be used against Israel. US forces in Syria may be armed with Patriot missiles "for their own protection" not to mention handy against large Iranian and Syrian missiles.
The US is engineering the Gaza to Israel hostage releases in return for the US delaying the Israeli invasion and effectively paying for the truck convoys entering Gaza from Egypt.
Also the US has asked Israel to return to the established practice of warning Gaza building owners to evacuate 10 minutes before the buildings are bombed by Israeli aircraft. In return Hamas has promised not to kill hostages.
7 comments:
There's also been some kinetic naval activity:
"The engagement of Houthi cruise missiles and drones by the
Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Carney on Thursday in the
Red Sea took place for far longer than initially reported,
with more targets destroyed than first indicated. You can
read our initial reporting on the incident here.
The Carney shot down four land attack cruise missiles and 19
drones, a U.S. official told The War Zone Friday. The
engagements took place over a nine-hour period, CNN reported
Friday."
See:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/uss-carney-shot-down-more-missiles-drones-over-longer-period
Makes sense, but very low key if true.
Hi Anonymous at 10/25/2023 2:42 AM and jbmoore
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/uss-carney-shot-down-more-missiles-drones-over-longer-period is interesting and has been repeated in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Carney#2011%E2%80%932023
I have added to the text of the SubMatts article accordingly.
Regards Pete
More naval activity:
""Earlier today, IDF naval forces located a Hamas
terrorist cell exiting a tunnel on the Gaza Strip
coast and attempting to infiltrate Israeli
territory via the sea, near Zikim," the IDF said
on Telegram at about 11:55 p.m. local time
(4:55 p.m. EST). "Israeli Navy, IAF and ground
soldiers struck the terrorists and thwarted their
infiltration attempt. IDF fighter jets and naval
soldiers struck the tunnel and weapons warehouse
used by the terrorists in the Gaza Strip."
"There is no immediate risk of an additional
infiltration at the moment," the IDF added."
See:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/israel-gaza-situation-report-hamas-frogmen-attempt-to-infiltrate-near-israeli-base
Thanks Anonymous at 10/25/2023 6:08 PM
I wonder to what extent Israel is fighting the tunnel war by inserting sensors linked to explosives to "take out" unsuspecting Hamas insurgents.
More MidEast updates:
The 8 ex-Indian Navy personnel arrested by Qatari authorities last year on accusations of spying for Israel have been sentenced to death.
https://www.firstpost.com/india/8-ex-indian-navy-sailors-get-death-sentence-in-qatar-mea-exploring-legal-options-13301602.html/amp
That's tragic Gessler at 10/27/2023 12:45 AM
Perhaps India should indulge in the the type of hostage diplomacy
that China used in freeing Chinese Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou (arrested in Canada). China shortly after, tit for tat, arrested some Canadians. All later resulting in a type of Sino-Canadian (non-spy) swap.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei#Meng_Wanzhou_case
"Meng left Canada for China on 24 September 2021; hours after news of the deal, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, two Canadians whose detention were widely seen as retaliation for Meng's arrest, were released from detention in China and flown back to Canada.[232] On December 2, 2022, the presiding judge dismissed the charges against Meng following the United States government's request.[233]"
Regards Pete
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