(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — The United States may have to make a difficult decision between its two major allies, Israel or Ukraine, in terms of providing military assistance, especially involving much-needed artillery shells for both countries.
Kiev and Tel Aviv rely on Washington to supply them with thousands of 155mm artillery shells to enable them to combat Russian forces and Palestinian fighters.
Ukraine is said to need up to 1 million 155mm artillery shells in its conflict with Russia.
If a conflict erupts on the Israel-Lebanon border involving the armed group Hezbollah, then the United States’ military aid to Israel will undoubtedly need to be increased.
What is happening at the moment is that a significant portion of the artillery shells produced by the United States has already been diverted to Ukraine to assist it in dealing with the Russian military.
Due to its military assistance to Ukraine, America has had to increase the production of 155mm artillery shells from 25,000 per day to 100,000 per day.
With the outbreak of conflict in the Gaza Strip, military observers expect that the United States may have to “reduce” its military aid to Ukraine and focus entirely on meeting Israel’s needs.
Not only will military aid, including artillery shells, to Ukraine likely decrease after this, but Kiev also needs to be prepared for a potential reduction in financial aid from the United States.
Since the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Washington has provided various forms of aid worth more than $100 billion (RM470 billion).
Influential American Jewish politicians in Washington have already called for the country’s Department of Defense to “reduce” military and financial aid to Ukraine and, instead, “increase” aid to Israel.
Recent reports have indicated that Hamas is unwilling to entertain any ceasefire requests because it realizes that Israel has sent 80 percent of its artillery shell reserves to Ukraine.
Hamas understands that Israel is now “buying time,” waiting for additional artillery shells and other weapons from the United States before launching a ground attack in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.
This recent statement is based on reports from several months ago when the United States relocated its artillery shell reserves from Israel to Ukraine.
American officials told CNN that they had transferred approximately 300,000 artillery shells stored in Israel to Ukraine, with the approval of Israeli officials.
The United States’ action to move its artillery shells stored in Israel to Ukraine was due to the fact that it did not anticipate any “major incidents” occurring in Israel.
Israeli military officials can breathe a sigh of relief as American transport planes have begun arriving in Tel Aviv, carrying artillery shells and other military equipment.
Not only does Israel need artillery shells, but its air force also requires guided missiles and smart bombs made by the United States, which are used by Israeli Air Force fighter jets that now “work” 24 hours a day targeting objectives in the Gaza Strip.
The presence of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships with their weapon cargo is also likely to provide relief to Israel. — DSA
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