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)
Im a fan of this new fuck around and find out policy countries are taking.
Im not sure neighbor.
Do I hope Hamas is filled with regret, followed by shrapnel and lead - absolutely. But it’s not the perpetrators of the “fuck around” who experience the “find out”.
Are we the baddies?
So when this is studied in school for the beginnings of ww3 do we blame russia and the wests lack of commitment to stop russia which emboldened hezzabola?
Yep, and the Wagner coup in Niger will be a big part of the next phase, but that front is just beginning. North Korea will open up the Asian front and then China will make a move on Taiwan. Iran has successfully sparked the middle eastern front by using its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah(Wagner in Syria) and that will continue to escalate.
Russia has been planning this for a long time, and it wasn’t quite time, but all the pieces are in place.
What exactly does China gain from Taiwan? China’s notorious for claiming ideological grounds but only making moves on material or defensive grounds (see: oil discovered in the SCS, material deposits in Xinjiang/Tibet, and responding to Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia to end with status quo).
The only threat Taiwan poses is if it aligns with the West. Taiwan’s primary export is a manufactured good made in factories that have to be operated as clean rooms because of how delicate everything is. Taiwan’s primary asset is it’s highly educated workforce. It’s strategic value ONLY exists if it doesn’t align with China.
China has the money and the patience to wait for Taiwan to integrate of its own will. China doesn’t need unification, just (essentially) a guarantee that nobody can put their nuclear missiles on Taiwanese territory.
China is already Taiwan’s largest trade partner, Taiwan’s largest source of tourism, and a significant employer of Taiwanese expats (as high as 2% of the population pre-pandemic). They’re well on their way towards integrating Taiwan into the broader Chinese economy without conflict.
What reason does China have to intervene by force?
I have just listened to China speak. They have discussed the One China policy. It is literally the most important thing to them for whatever reason.
They will take any chance they can to take it , just like Hong Kong. Broken promises and now a population that has had its democracy destroyed.
Pick up a history book. “One China” is what every CPC leader says because the PRC and ROC never brokered a peace deal. It usually flares up whenever Taiwan drifts towards the US sphere of influence and dies down when Taiwan falls back into China’s sphere of influence.
It’s never been anything more than posturing, because, again, Taiwan has no value UNLESS it’s aligned against China.
I strongly disagree.
I’m waiting for a carrier to get hit. Drawing naval forces into an area surrounded by land and hostile forces, where it has been proven multiple times (including in US War games) that low tech means in high numbers can overwhelm high tech. I feel this is a ploy to take a carrier out, and a second is heading in too.
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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!
