B-52 crosses the Middle East as US troops are attacked in Iraq and Syria

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew over the Middle East from Europe on July 25. The 32-hour flight took place as U.S. troops were attacked in Iraq and Syria on July 25 and 26, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The bomber took off from Romania, where it was assigned to a brief Bomber Task Force mission, flew eastward over the Mediterranean, then crossed the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of ​​operations. It flew over Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, entered the Persian Gulf, and then turned around to head for the Atlantic, according to open-source flight tracking data reviewed by Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The aircraft, registration 60-0054, then returned to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on July 26.

The B-52 mission demonstrated “comprehensive capabilities … for providing combat-ready forces to protect and defend the region from enemy aggression,” Air Forces Central (AFCENT) said in a July 27 press release. The focus of the mission was to exercise maritime firepower support, AFCENT said.

The mission also included flights by USAF A-10s from Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan and KC-135 Stratoankers from Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington and McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas, AFCENT said. The B-52 did not land at CENTCOM but rendezvoused with and flew with Qatari F-15QAs, a U.S. official said.

“These missions enhance the United States’ ability to integrate with coalition forces and regional partners, while demonstrating the strategic bomber fleet’s ability to operate anywhere with decisive effect,” the official said.

However, it seems that not everything went according to plan. A regular poster on social media platform X apparently posted radio messages from the B-52 on its solo flight to the US, in which the crew stated: “The second aircraft experienced a mechanical problem and was unable to take off.”

The US embassy in Doha had originally stated that two B-52s would fly over Qatar.

“During the Bomber Task Force mission in the Middle East, the strategic bomber worked with U.S. Marine Corps Central Command and other regional partners during the Maritime Fire Support Symposium,” AFCENT said in the press release. “The addition of a long-range strategic bomber to the exercise provided coalition Marine and naval experts with the opportunity to practically employ air power to defend forward fighting positions.”

The US is trying to prevent Iran and the groups it supports – including the Houthis, militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Lebanese Hezbollah – from escalating the conflict in the Middle East.

The B-52 mission flew over Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, intervening in the civil war between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Saudi Arabia and Iran are rivals. The US continues to pursue an elusive agreement to fully normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, an agreement that Iran fears. Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7 halted that progress.

“CENTCOM must rely on our partners in the region to solve the region’s complex challenges,” CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said in a statement on July 24 after a trip to the region.

The US continues to carry out almost daily strikes on Houthi missile and drone targets in Yemen. The group, which controls large parts of Yemen, has used its attacks to massively disrupt commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandab Strait between those areas. Together, these waterways are a key trade route, as ships use the Suez Canal to transit between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, avoiding long journeys around Africa.

The Houthis, however, have not stopped. The group has escalated its actions, attacking Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 19, flying a drone more than 1,000 miles long, killing one person and triggering Israeli airstrikes on the Houthis-controlled port of Hodeida in Yemen. The Wall Street Journal reported that in a highly unusual move, Kurilla sent a letter to Pentagon leadership urging a more robust, government-wide response to the Houthis.

Meanwhile, Russia is apparently considering supplying the Houthis with anti-ship missiles so that they can continue to carry out attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington last week for talks with American politicians, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as the US pushes for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza war, in which more than 30,000 people have been killed so far.

Iran-backed militias are maintaining pressure across the region. Iran-aligned militias have attacked US troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan, posing the greatest threat to US forces since October. In total, they have carried out over 170 attacks and three US soldiers were killed earlier this year.

On July 25, the day of the bomber flight, two missiles were fired at Iraq’s Al Asad air base, two U.S. defense officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The missiles followed two days of talks on the future of U.S. troops in the country.

There are about 2,500 US soldiers in Iraq and about 900 in Syria.

At a meeting in Washington on July 22 and 23, Iraqi and American officials discussed how to end the official military campaign against the Islamic State and enable the transition to a “bilateral security relationship,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III told reporters in a briefing.

On July 26, two missiles were fired at the Euphrates Mission Support Site in Syria, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. No injuries or damage were reported, the officials said, and it is not clear which groups carried out the attacks.

“There is still work to be done,” Austin said during his press conference. “And we will continue to focus on that work.”