Middle East

Syria and the eastern Mediterranean

Historical significance

The region has seen some of the largest air battles since the Second World War. In the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, Syria attacked Israeli positions on the Golan Heights while Egypt crossed the Suez Canal; Israel pushed the Syrians back and counter-attacked towards Damascus. [2] On 9 June 1982, early in the Lebanon War, the Israeli Air Force’s Operation Mole Cricket 19 destroyed 29 of the 30 Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley and shot down 82 to 86 aircraft, the first time a Western-equipped air force destroyed a Soviet-built SAM network. [3]

From 2014 a US-led coalition fought the Islamic State over Syria and Iraq in Operation Inherent Resolve; by August 2019 it had flown more than 34,000 strikes, about 80% of them by the United States. [1] Russia intervened on the Syrian government’s side from 2015, flying from KhmeimimKhmeimim Air Base AirfieldThe air base Russia built beside Latakia airport in 2015 to run its Syrian intervention, the target of the first drone-swarm attack., until the Assad government fell in December 2024. [5]

Forces deployed

• Incirlik Air BaseIncirlik Air Base AirfieldA Turkish air base near Adana shared with the US Air Force: Cold War U-2 base, Gulf War northern front and home of the 39th Air Base Wing., Turkey: Turkish base shared with the US Air Force.
• RAF AkrotiriRAF Akrotiri AirfieldBritain's air base on Cyprus since 1955: Suez, CENTO's Canberras and Vulcans, US U-2s, and strikes over Iraq, Syria and Yemen., Cyprus: a British base since the 1950s, used in the Suez Crisis in 1956, for the US strike on Libya in 1986, for strikes on the Islamic State from 2014 and for the 2018 missile strikes on Syria. [4]
• KhmeimimKhmeimim Air Base AirfieldThe air base Russia built beside Latakia airport in 2015 to run its Syrian intervention, the target of the first drone-swarm attack., near Latakia: a Syrian air base operated by Russia under a 2015 treaty, flying Su-24, Su-25Su-25 Frogfoot AircraftAn armoured Soviet close air support jet; the Su-25T adds Vikhr anti-tank missiles. and Su-34 strike aircraft, supplied through Russia’s naval base at Tartus. [5]
• US bases in Syria for Inherent Resolve were mostly in the north-east, including the Rmelan airbase and al-Tanf in the south-east. Some, such as Harab Isk, were closed in the 2019 withdrawal. [1]
• Carriers: the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov launched 420 sortiesSortie GlossaryJoint terms: In air operations, an operational flight by one aircraft. during the Aleppo offensive in November 2016. [6] After the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, the US sent the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean, and later the Dwight D. Eisenhower group as well. [7]

The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz

Historical significance

During the Iran–Iraq War both sides attacked merchant shipping in the gulf and the Strait of Hormuz: from 1981 to 1988 Iraq made 283 attacks and Iran 168. [8] From 24 July 1987 the US Navy escorted reflagged Kuwaiti tankers in Operation Earnest Will, the largest naval convoy operation since the Second World War, with Air Force AWACS overhead and Army special-operations helicopters of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Nightstalkers, hunting attackers. [9]

When the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine on 14 April 1988, the United States answered four days later with Operation Praying Mantis, which destroyed, damaged or sank two Iranian oil platforms, two frigates, a fast-attack craft, several armed boats and two fighters. It was the largest of the US Navy’s five major surface engagements since the Second World War and saw its first exchange of anti-ship missiles with opposing ships. [10] On 3 July 1988 the cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 shortly after it left Bandar Abbas, killing all 290 people on board; the US said the crew took the Airbus A300 for an Iranian F-14F-14 Tomcat AircraftThe Navy's swing-wing fleet defence fighter: two crew, AWG-9 radar and AIM-54 Phoenix.. [11]

Forces deployed

• Al Dhafra Air Base, south of Abu Dhabi: headquarters of the UAE Air Force’s Western Air Command, with F-16E/F Desert Falcons and Mirage 2000-9s. [12] Since January 2002 it has hosted the US Air Force’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, which has flown the F-15CF-15C Eagle AircraftA twin-engine air superiority fighter with more than 104 air-to-air victories and no losses., F-15EF-15E Strike Eagle AircraftThe two-seat, long-range, all-weather strike derivative of the Eagle., F-22, KC-10, E-3 AWACS, U-2 and RQ-4; the first USAF F-35s sent to the Middle East arrived there in April 2019. France has had its own detachment there since 2008. [12]
• Al Udeid Air BaseAl Udeid Air Base AirfieldQatar's main air base and the largest US military base in the Middle East, with Central Command's forward headquarters and air operations centre., Qatar, on the gulf’s southern shore.
• Bandar Abbas, Iran: a joint civil and military airport beside Iran’s main naval port on the strait. [11] [13]
• Carriers: Praying Mantis was flown by Carrier Air Wing 11 from USS Enterprise, and the convoys of Earnest Will drew on carrier battle groups and surface action groups of the Third, Sixth and Seventh Fleets, for parts of their normal six-month deployments. [9] [10]

Iraq

Historical significance

After Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, a 42-nation coalition built up its forces in Operation Desert Shield and, from 17 January 1991, fought Operation Desert Storm, which ended with the liberation of Kuwait on 28 February. [14] The US Army’s VII Corps, with 1,487 tanks and 146,321 troops, was the coalition’s main combat formation, and the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions fought for Kuwait International Airport. [14]

For the next twelve years coalition aircraft patrolled no-fly zones: Operation Southern Watch south of the 32nd parallel, later the 33rd, from August 1992 to March 2003, and Operation Northern Watch above the 36th parallel from 1997. [16] [15] The US-led invasion of March 2003 overthrew Saddam Hussein’s government and was followed by an insurgency; US forces left in 2011 but returned in 2014 to lead the coalition against the Islamic State in Operation Inherent Resolve. [17] [18]

Forces deployed

• Balad, north of Baghdad: taken by the 4th Infantry Division in 2003, it became the second-largest US base in Iraq, known as LSA Anaconda and from 2008 Joint Base Balad, with some 27,500 take-offs and landings a month. It was handed back to the Iraqi Air Force on 8 November 2011 and now houses its F-16s. [19]
• Al Asad, Anbar: the second-largest US air base of the Iraq War and until January 2010 the home of II Marine Expeditionary Force. It was hit by Iranian ballistic missiles on 8 January 2020. [20]
• Tallil, near Nasiriyah: known to the US Air Force as Ali Air Base and to the Army as Camp Adder; the ancient city of Ur lies inside its perimeter. [21]
• Al Taqaddum, west of Baghdad: built by the RAF in 1952 as a satellite of RAF Habbaniya, and known as Camp Taqaddum since 2004. [22]
• Carriers: the US Navy sent battle groups built around USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Independence to the Gulf, where they were ready by 8 August 1990. [14]

The Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal

Historical significance

The Sinai has been fought over in three Arab–Israeli wars. In the Suez Crisis of 1956 Israel invaded on 29 October to reopen the Straits of Tiran, and Britain and France joined two days later to try to regain the canal and depose Nasser, until pressure from the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Nations forced them out. [23] At 07:45 on 5 June 1967 the Israeli Air Force opened the Six-Day War with Operation Focus, which destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground and put 18 Egyptian airfields out of action; by noon about 450 Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian aircraft had been destroyed. [24] In October 1973 Egypt crossed the Suez Canal in Operation Badr; Israel halted the Egyptian advance and, from 15 October, crossed the canal itself. [25]

The 1979 peace treaty, signed in Washington on 26 March, returned the Sinai to Egypt. [26] Israel gave up its four air bases there, among them Etzion and Eitam, and new bases at Ramon, Nevatim and Ovda in the Negev, built mainly by US companies, replaced them. [27] Before it left, Israel launched the June 1981 raid on Iraq’s Osirak reactor, Operation Opera, from Etzion. [28]

Forces deployed

• Multinational Force and Observers: set up outside the UN by a protocol of 3 August 1981 to oversee the treaty, with a US infantry battalion and the 1st US Support Battalion (Task Force Sinai) alongside battalions from Fiji and Colombia. [29] Its North Camp at el Gorah was attacked by militants in September 2012, and by September 2016 its duties other than observing had moved to the south of the peninsula. [29]
• Ramon Airbase, Negev: home of three Israeli F-16I Sufa squadrons, whose jets took part in the 2007 strike on a Syrian reactor. [27]
• Ovda Airbase, north of Eilat: hosted the international Blue Flag exercise every two years until 2021 and the Israeli aggressor squadron until 2025. [30]

Israel and the Levant

Historical significance

On 7 June 1981 Israeli Air Force F-16F-16 Fighting Falcon AircraftA single-engine multirole fighter: fly-by-wire, 9 g, and the US Air Force's main strike and SEAD aircraft.As escorted by F-15As destroyed Iraq’s unfinished Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad in Operation Opera. They took off from Etzion Airbase in the Sinai and flew unchallenged through Jordanian and Saudi airspace. [31] A year later, on 6 June 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization there, and its forces briefly clashed with the Syrian Army in the north-east of the country. [32]

On 13 April 2024 Iran launched about 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles at Israel. The United States coordinated the multinational defence from the Combined Air Operations Center at Al UdeidAl Udeid Air Base AirfieldQatar's main air base and the largest US military base in the Middle East, with Central Command's forward headquarters and air operations centre. in Qatar, and US aircraft reportedly destroyed more than 80 of the Iranian weapons. [33] A senior US official said five ballistic missiles hit Nevatim, damaging a C-130, an unused runway and empty storage buildings, and four hit Ramon; the overall damage was minimal. [33]

Forces deployed

• Nevatim, Negev: built from 1980 and opened in October 1983, as the Israeli Air Force moved out of its Sinai bases after the Camp David Accords. [35] Its first eight F-35I Adir stealth fighters were declared operational in December 2017, and in May 2018 Israel said it had become the first country to use the F-35 in combat. No. 116 Squadron reopened there with the F-35I in November 2019. [34]
• Ramon, near Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev: built at the same time as Nevatim and Ovda. [35]
• Ramat DavidRamat David Airbase AirfieldIsrael's northernmost fighter base: RAF Ramat David from 1942, the first jet squadron, Osirak, and every F-16C/D Barak since 2021., Jezreel Valley: the northernmost Israeli Air Force base with fighter jets and drones, with three runways of about 2.5 km each. [36]
• Hatzerim, near Beersheba: besides operational fighter squadrons, it houses the IAF Flight Academy and the IAF Aerobatic Team. [37]