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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Guardian staff and agencies

US bolsters military presence in Middle East as threat of regional escalation intensifies

File photo of a US Osprey landing on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea
File photo of a US Osprey landing on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The US will bolster its military presence in the Middle East after Iran threatened to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Photograph: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amber Smalley/AP

The US military will deploy additional fighter jets and navy warships to the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Friday, as Washington braces for Iran and its regional allies to make good on a promise to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

After the back-to-back assassinations of Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut the evening before, international diplomats have scrambled to head off a full-fledged regional war. Rising tensions have spurred a growing list of major airlines into cancelling flights to Tel Aviv or Beirut, including Lufthansa, Delta and Air India.

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