US B-52 Bombers Escorted by Israeli Jets During Flight to Middle East

Ratcheting up tensions in the region, the US sent two US B-52 bombers to the Middle East on Sunday that were escorted through Israeli airspace by Israeli F-15 fighter jets.

These types of flights became a regular occurrence in the final weeks of the Trump administration. Sunday’s flight marks the second such maneuver under President Biden, but it marks the first time Israeli aircraft was photographed alongside the US bombers while they flew through the region.

US Central Command said the bombers flew out of Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Besides the Israeli jets, the B-52s were also joined by military aircraft from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The flight comes amid heightened tensions in the region, with the US threatening military action over a rocket attack that hit a US base in Iraq last week. At the end of February, President Biden ordered airstrikes in eastern Syria over similar incidents.

The frequent B-52 missions started in November after a report from The New York Times said then-President Trump reviewed options to attack Iran. The flights were part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that ramped up in the final days of Trump’s presidency.

While President Biden vowed to return to diplomacy with Iran while on the campaign trail, he has yet to make a sincere effort to do so. Trump’s crippling economic sanctions remain in place, and the bomber mission is the latest example of Biden continuing the Iran policy of his predecessor.