Israel war: CENTCOM leader arrives in Tel Aviv focused on deterring enemies
Conrad Hoyt
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The United States’s top military leader in the Middle East has arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, to help the Jewish state in its war against Hamas and deter other Israeli enemies from expanding the conflict.
Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla’s unannounced trip comes as Israel continues bombarding Palestine with rockets in an effort to eradicate Hamas, the militant group that launched a surprise assault against Israel and captured 200 hostages, some of them American.
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“I’m here to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself, and am particularly focused on avoiding other parties expanding the conflict,” Kurilla said in a press release from the U.S. Central Command.
The Army general’s visit comes a day before President Joe Biden is set to land in Israel, where he “will receive a comprehensive brief on Israel’s war aims and strategy,” according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as “how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance.”
Biden will also travel to Amman, where he will be hosted by the king of Jordan and meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Kurilla is set to meet with Israeli military leadership, including Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of defense, to “gain a clear understanding of Israel’s defense requirements, outline U.S. support efforts to avoid expansion of the conflict, and reiterate the Department of Defense’s ironclad support for Israel,” CENTCOM said.
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Blinken has already visited Israel, as well as with the Jordanian and Palestinian leaders. The U.S. has sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in an effort to dissuade other parties, such as Iran or Hezbollah, its terrorist proxy entrenched on Israel’s border with Lebanon, from expanding the conflict.
Iran has threatened to launch “preemptive action,” perhaps through Hezbollah, to constrain Israel’s plan to target Hamas. While Iran has supported Hamas in the past, the Biden administration has said it has found no clear evidence linking the country to Hamas’s attack earlier this month.