Australia sends aircraft and troops to Middle East in case ‘this gets worse’

Contingency force on standby if Australians in region need to be flown to safety, Richard Marles says

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The Australian government is sending a “significant contingent” of aircraft and supporting troops to the Middle East on standby in the event “this gets worse”, as the death toll from Israel airstrikes passed 5,700.

The acting prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, appeared across multiple media outlets on Wednesday morning to announce two additional RAAF planes and support troops were being flown to the Middle East “as a contingency”.

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