Thursday, September 19, 2024

UK and US military capability close to Lebanon – what we know about it so far

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The UK Government has called for all British nationals to leave Lebanon as tensions in the Middle East grow.

As a result, the UK is in the process of deploying military personnel to the region and the US has equally bolstered its armed forces capabilities in the area.

But what do we know about the situation right now?

We know that the UK will send military personnel to the region in order to help the embassies support British nationals.

The UK already has RFA Cardigan Bay in the Eastern Mediterranean, supporting allies’ humanitarian needs.

The RFA ship was being used as accommodation for US troops operating from the Gaza aid pier, which has now been closed.

Cardigan Bay can accommodate 350 troops but can be overloaded to 700 for brief periods, and carries a large landing craft.

HMS Duncan is also in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The Type-45 Destroyer specialises in air defence and, alongside the RFA vessel, will be placed on standby.

HMS Duncan has worked alongside America’s USS Eisenhower and the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group (ARG).

Despite USS Eisenhower’s return to the US, HMS Duncan’s presence can provide additional air defence back-up to the Wasp ARG.

The USS Wasp ARG includes the USS New York and USS Oak Hill which, between them, has more than 2,000 Marines from the US Marine Corps 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). 

In total, sailors and marines in the ARG stand at 4,200. 

This is not all the support the US is offering in the region, with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ordering the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.

However, on 4 August, USS Abraham Lincoln tweeted to say she was in Guam, so realistically still roughly 10-14 days from the Arabian Sea region.

Mr Austin also ordered more vessels capable of defending against ballistic missile attacks to both the US European Command and US Central Command regions. 

Finally, the Pentagon said it was taking extra steps to increase the US’ readiness in deploying additional land-based ballistic missile defence and Mr Austin had ordered an additional fighter Squadron to head to the Middle East.

It is not the first time the UK has evacuated nationals from Lebanon.

In 2006, a number of British nationals were evacuated from the main port area in the capital of Beirut by UK amphibious warships and destroyers. 

The mission, called Operation Highbrow, saw some people evacuated to Cyprus in Chinook helicopters, with warships effectively providing a shuttle service between Beirut and Cyprus.

An aircraft carrier was also used as a forward operating base for the Chinooks.

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