US General warns America cannot defend Israel without additional naval forces

A senior United States military commander has warned the Pentagon that defending Israel would become impossible without deploying additional naval assets to the Middle East. General Christopher Cavoli, who heads United States European Command, submitted a written warning to Pentagon leadership emphasising that without extra destroyer vessels, American forces would be forced to choose between protecting Israel and defending the homeland itself.

The warning, reported by The Washington Post, highlights growing strain on the US Navy’s ability to maintain simultaneous operations across multiple global hotspots. The general’s concerns underscore the resource constraints facing American military planners as tensions remain elevated in the Middle East.

According to Pentagon sources, an additional destroyer could join the five vessels already stationed in the region. However, maintenance issues that accumulated during sustained military operations have complicated deployment options for Cavoli. The backlog of maintenance work reflects broader challenges within the Navy’s fleet readiness, with ships requiring significant work before they can be safely deployed to active duty zones.

The situation reflects a strategic dilemma facing American defence planners: how to maintain credible military commitments across Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East simultaneously with an ageing and increasingly stressed naval fleet. Cavoli’s warning suggests that current force levels may be insufficient to honour all existing security commitments if simultaneous crises emerge across multiple regions.

Source: Ynet — Original article in Hebrew.