Washington: Satellite images show that almost all US military aircraft have been removed from a major US airbase in Qatar as Washington weighs whether to intervene in Tehran’s conflict with Israel.
The images taken earlier this month reveal a sharp decrease in the number of aircraft on Earth – a step that is believed to protect them from possible Iranian attacks as tensions rise in the region.
Nearly 40 military aircraft-inclusive transport aircraft such as Hercules C-130 and reconnaissance flights were parked on the tarmac at Al Udid base on June 5, according to images published by Planet Lab’s PBC and analyzed by AFP.
In a picture taken on June 19, only three aircraft are visible.
The US Embassy in Qatar announced on Thursday that access to the base would be limited “out of an abundance of caution and in the light of continuous regional hostilities” and urged staff to “practice increased vigilance.”
The White House says US President Donald Trump will someday decide in the next two weeks whether to join Ally Israel’s strikes on Iran. The Islamic Republic could then respond by beating us bases in the region.
Mark Schwartz, a former Lieutenant General of the US Army and a defense researcher at Rand Corporation, said staff, aircraft and installations in all Udid would be “extremely vulnerable” considering his “proximity” for Iran.
Schwartz, who served in the Middle East, told AFP that even grenade could make the aircraft “non-mission.”
“You want to reduce the risk of US strengths, both staff and equipment,” he said.
The aircraft that have left the tarmac since the beginning of June could have been moved to hangars or to other bases in the region.
An American defense employee would not discuss the specific positioning of assets, but said to AFP: “We remain obliged to maintain operational security while performing our mission with the highest level of emergency preparedness, mortality and professionalism.”
US forces in the Middle East have been mobilized since Israel’s first strikes on Iran almost a week ago, with an extra airline along the way and significant flight movement.
An AFP analysis of Open Source Data Porage of Air Positioning showed that at least 27 military refueling plans kc-46a Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker-Fly-travel from the United States to Europe from 15 to 18 June.
Twenty -five of them were still in Europe from late Wednesday, with only two returning to American soil, the data showed.
