American "Stealth" Aircraft Headed to the Middle East

The United States is preparing to deploy a squadron of 16 to 24 F-22 stealth aircraft in the region this week, according to a U.S. defense official quoted by Bloomberg. Tensions in the area have escalated following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas, in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed Fouad Shukr, a prominent military leader in Hezbollah, the Iranian-allied group. Iran and Hamas accuse Israel of assassinating Haniyeh and have vowed revenge alongside Hezbollah. The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday that it will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region. According to Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer in an interview with CBS News, "the overall goal is to reduce tensions in the region, alongside deterrence and preventing such attacks, and avoiding a regional conflict." Finer emphasized that the U.S. and Israel are preparing for all possibilities. Days earlier, the White House stated that President Joe Biden discussed new U.S. military defensive deployments in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the statement, the new military defensive deployments aim to "support Israel against threats such as missiles and drones."