US Secretary of State In Israel Amid Militant Threats Against United States
By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
JERUSALEM/TEL AVIV (Worthy News) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel Thursday to show support for Israel despite powerful militant groups threatening to target American military sites.
“I’m in Israel today to make one thing clear: The United States stands with Israel and its people, and we will always stand — resolutely — against terrorism,” Blinken said.
Blinken was greeted by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and other officials after departing the plane at the Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, which is on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Deputy Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Steve Gillen also traveled to Israel with Blinken to prioritize the mission to urge Hamas to release all its up to 150 hostages immediately.
Blinken is in Israel after powerful Iraqi and Yemeni armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target U.S. interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervenes to help Israel in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip Worthy News learned.
The warnings came amid military solid support by the United States for Israel’s response to the attacks by Hamas militants that killed as many as 1,200 people in the Jewish nation.
IRAQ MILITANTS REACTS
Washington has pledged to provide additional munitions to Israel rapidly and has deployed a carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean.
In Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful armed faction with close ties to Iran, said it would target U.S. bases with missiles, drones, and its special forces if Washington intervened in the conflict.
Iraqi politician Hadi Al-Amiri, leader of the political and military group the Badr Organization, close to Iran, had made similar threats on Monday.
Badr comprises a large part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), the state paramilitary organization that contains many Iran-backed factions.
In Yemen, the leader of the powerful Houthi Movement warned on Tuesday that the group would respond to any U.S. intervention in Gaza with drones, missiles, and other military options.
The United States currently has 2,500 troops in Iraq – and an additional 900 in neighboring Syria – on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Islamic State, which in 2014 seized swathes of territory in both countries.
WAR WARNINGS
With threats rising, there is concern in Washington that the United States, Israel’s closest ally, will become part of a broader war involving Israel with hostile neighbors.
In a recent interview, U.S. Retired General Barry McCaffrey suggested that the U.S. could potentially wage war in Israel if its Middle Eastern neighbors, namely Syria and Iran, become heavily involved.
The retired four-star U.S. Army general said, “I would suggest to you our support of Israel will be absolute, and if we see Syrian military intervention, active Iranian military intervention, we’ll go to war.”
The developments come amid ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas militants Thursday.
Officials say as many as 150 hostages were taken into Gaza during Hamas’s deadly attacks on Israel at the weekend that killed 1,300 people.
More than 1,400 have been killed in the Palestinian enclave Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, with 400,000 displaced, according to local authorities.
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