SAS squadron sent to Middle East almost as soon as Iran-US war began, much earlier than previously thought
About 40 soldiers from the elite regiment were flown to the region within a week of the start of the war, suggesting the Government was more worried about evacuating Australians than it admitted.
One of the two Special Air Service squadrons based in Perth was sent to the Middle East almost as soon as the war against Iran began — much earlier than previously thought — according to special forces sources.
Soldiers from the elite, Perth-based regiment left Australia about one week after President Donald Trump ordered Operation Epic Fury to begin on February 28, beginning an air war designed to reshape politics across the region, the sources said.
The Federal Government refuses to confirm Australian soldiers have been sent to the United Arab Emirates or other countries under attack from Iran.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The SAS’s presence was first reported last Thursday in News Corp newspapers, undercutting Anthony Albanese’s assertion in Wednesday’s televised speech that “Australia is not an active participant in this war”.
The SAS squadron was sent around a month ago, when the ability of commercial flights to operate was unclear, to evacuate Australians who wanted to escape the war. The Government estimated there were about 115,000 Australians in the region, including 25,000 in the UAE, which Australia is helping defend by providing an RAAF surveillance jet and anti-air missiles.
Six teams of diplomats and other public servants were sent to embassies to help manage requests for help and information from Australians. The secret dispatch of the army’s top unit around the same time suggests the Government was more worried about getting Australians home than it admitted at the start of the war.
Similar to Libya
Despite civilian airports in the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia being attacked by Iran, commercial air services are operating across the region at a reduced capacity. The SAS remains on standby to evacuate Australians on an RAAF C-130 Hercules jet if airports shut down again, the sources said.
Military sources said the regiment’s mission would be similar to an operation conducted by the British SAS in 2011 to rescue approximately 200 foreigners caught in the early days of the Libyan civil war. They were flown out on British Hercules aircraft without the permission of the Libyan government.
Over the past five weeks Iran has fired 2662 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at the UAE, according to figures compiled by the UAE Ministry of Defence up to Saturday.
The Australians’ location is secret, but veterans say approximately 40 “operators” — soldiers who have been through the full SAS training — and about 40 support staff may be at the Al Minhad air base outside Dubai. The support personnel include radio specialists, medics, drivers, intelligence analysts and quartermasters.
An Australian-occupied area of the base, which has been the Australian Defence Force’s regional headquarters since the Afghanistan war, was hit by Iranian weapon on March 18. No one was hurt, according to the government.
Not invading Iran
Asked on Friday if the SAS had been sent to the Middle East, Defence Minister Richard Marles made a distinction between the deployment of Australian soldiers to Iran and other countries.
“Well, look, we don’t comment on the movements of our special forces,” he said, “but let me be absolutely clear: we are not having boots on the ground in Iran, and we’ve made that very clear from the outset of this conflict.”
No foreign soldiers, not even Americans, are known to be in Iran, which remains under the control of the Islamic regime President Trump has said, at times, he would like to replace. On Sunday a US Air Force weapons officer whose plane was shot down was rescued, according to Mr Trump, the kind of mission Australia’s SAS is trained to do also.
While the Labor government has insisted Australia is not a participant in the war, some international lawyers disagree. Professor Emily Crawford of Sydney University and Donald Rothwell of the Australian National University have said Australia is now a “belligerent” under international law because it has provided military personnel to defend one side, a legal distinction that permits Iran to attack Australian military personnel.
The dispatch of a whole squadron overseas leaves the SAS with one squadron left in Perth available to respond to a terrorist attack on the West Coast, according to regimental veterans.
One of the three SAS squadrons in Perth was abolished in 2020 after Major-General Paul Brereton concluded lower-ranked members of the regiment executed prisoners and committed other war crimes in Afghanistan.
One SAS veteran has been charged, Oliver Schulz, who is scheduled to go on trial for murder next year. The total bill for investigating war crimes will hit about $320 million by the end of this financial year, according to public records.
