\n<\/p>\n
This week, several countries in Europe announced that they are sending military assistance to the Middle East and the Mediterranean amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war, which has seen a strike on a British military base on Cyprus.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Australia also announced it will send \u201cassets\u201d to the region, but did not specify what.<\/p>\n
The war, which started with Operation Epic Fury, the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, on February 28, continued to escalate for a seventh day on Friday as attacks continued in Iran, Israel and other countries in the region.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the UK\u2019s Royal Air Force base \u2060of Akrotiri in Cyprus suffered a drone attack overnight, the island\u2019s president and the British Ministry of Defence said, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would allow the US to use its bases to launch \u201cdefensive\u201d strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that it was sending the HMS Dragon to the eastern Mediterranean along with two Wildcat helicopters \u201cto bolster drone defence for our Cypriot partners\u201d.<\/p>\n
One of the Royal Navy\u2019s six Type-45 air defence destroyers, the HMS Dragon is fitted with a Sea Viper missile system, which is able to launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously, the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a Downing Street news conference that the UK would send four more Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar to help with defence.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France was sending an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the widening conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have ordered the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, its air assets, and its escort of frigates to set course for the Mediterranean,\u201d he said in a televised speech a day after he warned of the risk of the conflict spilling across Europe\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
Macron said he was also sending military assets to Cyprus, a day after Iranian-made drones hit the Mediterranean island\u2019s British airbase at Akrotiri.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have also decided to send additional air defence assets and a French frigate, the Languedoc, which will arrive off the coast of Cyprus this evening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Greece has sent two frigates and four F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus.<\/p>\n
It has also allowed the US to use its base in Souda Bay in Crete.<\/p>\n
Rome said it will send \u201cnaval assets\u201d to Cyprus in the coming days along with France, the Netherlands and Spain.<\/p>\n
Italy has also pledged \u201cair-defence, anti-drone and anti-missile systems\u201d to partners in the Gulf.<\/p>\n
Italian media reported that the assistance could include the SAMP\/T air defence system.<\/p>\n
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Italy\u2019s airbases could be used by the US for \u201clogistical support\u201d for \u201caircraft not intended for combat\u201d under existing agreements.<\/p>\n
The Portuguese government has given the go-ahead for the US to use its Lajes base in the Azores as part of operations targeting Iran, but with certain conditions.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Wednesday that permission had been granted \u201con the understanding that these operations are defensive or retaliatory in nature, that they are necessary and proportionate, and that they target exclusively military objectives\u201d.<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has made clear his opposition to the war in a verbal bust-up with Trump.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Spain said the US should be mindful of international law and bilateral trade agreements with the European Union, after Trump threatened to cut off all trade with the country for refusing to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n
Spain has nevertheless said it will send its most advanced frigate, the Cristobal Colon, to help protect Cyprus.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the defence ministry said the warship would \u201coffer protection and aerial defence\u201d and \u201csupport any evacuation of civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n
Wary of getting directly involved in the US-Israeli war on Iran, European countries have nevertheless been drawn into the conflict by attacks on Cyprus and Western allies in Gulf countries, which host US troops in military bases.<\/p>\n
In a social media post announcing the UK military deployment on Tuesday, Starmer said the country was \u201cfully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Starmer told a Downing Street news conference that he stands by his decision to not join the US-Israel campaign in Iran, however.<\/p>\n
His initial refusal resulted in a strong rebuke from US President Donald Trump. \u201cThis is not Winston Churchill that we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d Trump said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Macron has condemned the campaign in Iran by US and Israel, saying: \u201cThe United States of America and Israel decided to launch military operations, conducted outside international law, which we cannot approve of.\u201d<\/p>\n
But \u201cthe Islamic Republic of Iran bears primary responsibility for this situation\u201d, he added, because of its \u201cdangerous\u201d nuclear programme, support for regional proxies, and orders to shoot \u201cits own people\u201d during protests in January.<\/p>\n
Macron added that French forces downed drones \u201cin self-defence\u201d during the opening hours of the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reacted immediately and shot down drones in self-defence in the early hours of the conflict to defend the airspace of our allies, who know they can count on us,\u201d he said, referring to defence agreements with Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Australia\u2019s parliament that he will deploy \u201cmilitary assets\u201d to the Middle East, as the government continues to coordinate flights home for stranded citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank those Australians going into a dangerous situation in order to help their fellow Australians,\u201d Albanese said without providing further details about the assets.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Australian media reported that these include a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport, but reported that the government has not disclosed where these are currently.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, a military analyst said: \u201cAustralia has traditionally supported the US on these operations. I think their assistance is pretty limited but it does show their support for the overall intent of degrading the regime in Iran and removing the threat of their developing nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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This week, several countries in Europe announced that they are sending military assistance to the Middle East and the Mediterranean amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war, which has seen a strike on a British military base on Cyprus. On Thursday, Australia also announced it will send \u201cassets\u201d to the region, but did not specify what. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}