Britain will send surveillance aircraft, two Royal Navy support ships and about 100 Royal Marines to the eastern Mediterranean from Friday to support Israel and help prevent any sudden escalation of fighting in the Middle East.
Patrol flights of Poseidon P-8 aircraft and other planes will begin on Friday, Downing St announced, tasked partly with monitoring any efforts to transfer of weapons from countries such as Iran or Russia to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Existing UK military units and fighter aircraft, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, are also on alert as Israel gears up for an expected ground assault on Gaza after last Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas, which has left more than 1,300 Israeli civilians dead. The death toll in Gaza has risen above 1,400.
Concern remains high that Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, may seek to open a second front from the north with the backing of its ally, Iran. Earlier on Thursday, Syria said that its airports in Damascus and Aleppo were bombed by the Israeli air force, most likely in an effort to disrupt any supplies of weaponry bound for the group.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said the UK’s intention was to “support efforts to ensure regional stability and prevent further escalation”, and to “ensure humanitarian aid reaches the thousands of innocent victims of this barbaric attack from Hamas terrorists”.
Earlier this week, a US aircraft carrier, the Gerald R Ford, arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, with a cruiser and four destroyers in support, aimed also at deterring any actor from “seeking to escalate the situation or widen this war”.
The UK’s naval task group is significantly smaller, consisting of support ships. It is led by the RFA Lyme Bay, a logistics support vessel, and RFA Argus, the Royal Navy’s emergency medical ship, which has a capacity of 100 beds.
The Ministry of Defence said this was “a contingency measure” to support humanitarian efforts, although it was not immediately spelled out who they would be assisting. Gaza is subject to an Israeli blockade.
Britain already has two warships in the region, HMS Duncan, tasked to Nato, in the eastern Mediterranean, and HMS Lancaster, part of the UK’s permanent naval presence in the Persian Gulf.
Downing St also said that Sunak had spoken to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, earlier on Thursday as part of an effort, No 10 said, to “understand the wider regional picture and underscore the importance of supporting civilians to leave Gaza”.
