by
LOLITA C. BALDORand TARA COPP The Associated Press
President Joe Biden arrives at the Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Friday, August. 2, 2024. Biden is spending the weekend at his Delaware home. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said Friday, beefing up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and safeguard U.S. troops.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense weapons there, the Pentagon said in a statement Friday evening.
The shifts make good on a promise President Joe Biden made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a call Thursday afternoon, Biden discussed new U.S. military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House.
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