The US has deployed dozens of troops to Cyprus amid Israel’s dramatic escalation of its bombing campaign in Lebanon, CNN reported on Wednesday.
US officials said the troops are preparing for a range of contingencies, including the possibility of helping evacuate US citizens from Lebanon. The UK has announced that it’s sending 700 troops to Cyprus to evacuate British nationals.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the US was deploying more troops to the region but didn’t specify how many. On Wednesday, the Pentagon insisted it wasn’t directly supporting Israel’s attack on Lebanon but said it would defend Israel if necessary.
“The support that you’re seeing when it comes to US forces in the region is for our own force protection and should we need to come to the defense of Israel, like we saw from that large-scale attack from Iran,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh.
Singh was referencing when the US directly intervened to defend Israel from Iranian missiles and drones in April, an attack provoked by the Israeli bombing of Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria.
Singh also claimed that the conflict in the region is still contained to Gaza despite Israel unleashing one of the heaviest single-day bombings of the century in Lebanon on Monday, killing over 500 people, who were mostly civilians, according to Lebanon’s health minister.
“We still believe, right now, the conflict has been contained to Gaza. There’s no question that there are higher tensions in the region, there’s no question that there’s been an increase in border clashes on that northern border,” Singh said.
When pressed on how she could believe that since civilians have been killed in Lebanon, Singh said, “It’s not how we would characterize an all-out full-scale regional war. What you’re seeing is a trade of fires back and forth on that northern border. I’d point you to October 8, when Hezbollah started launching those. We’re not seeing this widen out into a regional conflict.”
Singh insisted the Biden administration was pushing for a diplomatic solution in Lebanon, but the continued US military aid and promises to defend Israel has only emboldened Israel to escalate.
