The United States has withdrawn its F-22 Raptor stealth fighter squadron from the Uvda airbase in southern Israel, returning the aircraft to the US, according to a report by The Zioneer. The move follows earlier reports of a US withdrawal of stealth jets from an Israeli base, amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The Zioneer has confirmed that the United States recently evacuated its F-22 Raptor stealth fighter squadron from the Uvda airbase in southern Israel, returning the aircraft to the United States. The confirmation follows a series of reports on Friday, July 10, that progressively refined the details of the withdrawal.
At 13:45 Jerusalem on Friday, initial reports stated that 12 F-22 Raptors had departed Uvda (then referred to as Ovda) en route to the US via the UK. Subsequent reports clarified that this was the first withdrawal of US fighter jets from Israel since Operation Roaring Lion in February, and that the squadron had been stationed in Israel for five months. An earlier version reported that some aircraft had returned to Britain, but later reports corrected that the entire squadron returned to the United States. By the evening, The Zioneer reported that the US had withdrawn stealth fighter jets from an Israeli airbase. The reports converged on the identification of the aircraft as F-22 Raptors and the base as Uvda/Ovda, with the withdrawal linked to the end of Operation Roaring Lion.
The Zioneer has previously reported on broader US force posture changes in recent weeks, including the return of B-52 bombers from the UK (July 2) and the redeployment of refueling tankers to the Middle East and Israel (July 8). These moves occurred amid ongoing US-Iran tensions under the campaign Operation Epic Fury.
The exact number of aircraft involved in the withdrawal remains unconfirmed. The precise timing of the squadron's departure from Uvda also remains unclear.
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