US special forces were reported to be on their way to the Israeli war zone last night as America’s military build-up gathered strength.
The 2,400 fighters of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit have quietly pulled away from their planned military exercise in Kuwait as the US faces a possible rescue attempt of more than 150 hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
The USS Gerald R. Ford has already arrived at the head of a carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean and the White House confirmed on Wednesday that the USS Dwight D Eisenhower group will join it to deter any intervention by Iran.
But the prospect of direct US involvement grew with the deployment of the 26th, which was among the first US forces in Afghanistan after 9/11.
Hours after arriving for their two-week deployment, a corps spokesman confirmed to Military Times that the unit was ‘no longer in the vicinity of Kuwait due to emerging events’.
The corps boasts command, ground combat, aviation combat and logistics combat elements
The unit was one of the first to fight in the Iraq war and carried out operations in Erbil and Mosul
The commanding officer Colonel Dennis Sampson is a third generation US Marine who grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio
“As a crisis response force, we stand ready,” she added.
The news broke after military officials revealed that US ‘door kickers’ under Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) had been put on alert in a nearby European country.
The command includes the Army’s Delta Force, which has previously undertaken hostage rescue missions, and the Navy’s SEAL Team Six – which was sent out to kill Osama bin Laden.
Abu Obaida, Hamas spokesman, warned on Monday that the group will begin to execute its hostages if Israel targets people in Gaza without warning.
Another spokesman told CNN Wednesday night that it was too early to exchange Israeli hostages while Israel continued to attack Gaza.
“We will only discuss this issue when the Israeli aggression against our people ends,” he added.
Twenty-two Americans are known to have died in the Hamas attack and 17 are still missing, but the White House believes very few are being held in Gaza.
“Right now, we think the number that we believe is being held hostage is very small, very small, like less than a handful,” national security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.
‘But that may change over time. We’re going to get more information.’
Israeli officials admit they have no idea where in Gaza the 150 hostages are being held as the Palestinian enclave endures near constant airstrikes
The unit was to participate in two weeks of Marine Air-Ground task force training exercises in Kuwait
A spokeswoman said ‘As a crisis response force we stand ready’ as she confirmed their redeployment
The United States has deployed a carrier strike group led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, to the eastern Mediterranean in response to the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel. The USS Dwight D Eisenhower group will now join it
The unit was instructed to ‘prepare for further engagements as a result of emerging events’
But commanders refused to say where exactly they were headed out of ‘operational security’ concerns
The group was deployed to northern Iraq near Makhmur in 2016 to support Iraqi forces in their eventual offensive to liberate Mosul from Islamic State
“We want to get all these hostages back, especially the Americans. Now where they are and in what condition, we unfortunately do not know. And that makes efforts very, very difficult and again in these early hours.
He said he did not know whether they were held in a single group or divided into several.
“We don’t know if they’re being pulled in, with what frequency and to what locations, all those questions we’re working on.
He also was not specific about what intermediaries might be involved, but noted that Qatar has “open lines of communication” with Hamas.
“So obviously we’re testing the water as you would expect,” he said.
It came after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US had also sent hostage negotiators who would assist Israeli authorities with “intelligence and planning” for possible operations involving hostage rescue efforts.
He also confirmed that the Pentagon has a ‘liaison cell’ in Israel that works with the country’s special operations forces.
Three thousand extra US sailors and marines had already been sent to the Middle East weeks before Hamas militants stormed out of Gaza on October 7, killing more than 1,200 Israelis in the country’s worst-ever terror attack.
The Defense Department said the August deployment would counter “recent efforts by Iran to seize commercial ships in the CENTCOM area of operations.”
“We’ve moved the U.S. carrier fleet to the eastern Mediterranean, and we’re sending more fighter jets up there to that region, and have made it clear to the Iranians: Be careful,” President Biden said Wednesday.
“We are already in the process of getting additional military aid to the Israeli Defense Forces, including ammunition, interceptors to supplement the Iron Dome.”