US sends 2400 special force fighters to 'thwart any Iranian action' against Israel

US special forces were en route to the Israeli combat zone as the US prepares for a potential operation to free more than 150 hostages taken prisoner by Hamas. The 2,400 fighters of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit secretly left their scheduled military drill in Kuwait, according to reports. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower group is scheduled to join the USS Gerald R. Ford group in the eastern Mediterranean in order to thwart any Iranian action. The USS Gerald R. Ford has already arrived there as the head of a carrier strike group. However, with the deployment of the 26th, who were among the first US forces into Afghanistan following 9/11, the likelihood of direct US engagement increased. A corps official verified to Military Times that the battalion is “no longer in vicinity of Kuwait as a result of emerging events” hours after they arrived for their two-week assignment. We are prepared as a crisis response force, she continued. Military officials’ disclosure that US ‘door kickers’ under Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) had been alerted in a nearby European nation caused the word to spread. The Navy’s SEAL Team Six, which was sent to kill Osama bin Laden, and the Army’s Delta Force, which has previously carried out hostage rescue missions, are both part of the command. On Monday, Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas, issued a warning that the organization would begin beheading its hostages if Israel suddenly began attacking residents of Gaza. On Wednesday night, a different spokesperson told CNN that while Israel is still attacking Gaza, it is too early to return Israeli prisoners. “We won’t talk about this subject until Israel stops attacking our people,” he continued. Although 17 Americans are still missing and 22 Americans are confirmed to have killed in the Hamas strike, according to the White House, very few Americans are believed to remain detained in Gaza. It came after US hostage negotiators were deployed to Israel to help with “intelligence and planning” for prospective hostage rescue operations, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Additionally, he acknowledged that the Pentagon has a “liaison cell” in Israel that collaborates with the nation’s special operations forces. Before Hamas militants surged out of Gaza on October 7 and carried out the worst-ever terror attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israelis, 3,000 more US sailors and marines had already been sent to the Middle East. According to the Department of Defense, the deployment in August was made to thwart “recent Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships in the CENTCOM area of operations.” President Biden stated on Wednesday that the US carrier fleet had been relocated to the Eastern Mediterranean, that more fighter jets were being sent to the area, and that the Iranians had been warned to “be careful.” “We are already providing the Israeli Defense Force with additional military support, including ammunition and interceptors to restock the Iron Dome,” the statement reads.