The Pentagon said Monday that the US is sending a “few thousand” additional troops to the Middle East to bolster security and prepare to defend Israel if needed, The Associated Press has reported.
The deployment will include squadrons of F-15, F-16, F-22, and A-10 fighter jets and the personnel needed to support them. The squadrons were initially set to deploy to the Middle East so that other fighter jets could rotate out, but now they will all stay to increase US air power.
The deployment comes after the Israeli killing of Hassan Nasrallah and the Israeli slaughter of hundreds of Lebanese civilians since Israel dramatically escalated its bombing campaign in Lebanon last week. The US support for Israel’s attacks on Lebanon could provoke attacks on US forces in the region, or the US could directly intervene to defend Israel.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the deployment is for “the protection of US forces,” not to assist in evacuations. Last week, Singh said the US was bolstering its forces in the region “should we need to come to the defense of Israel.”
On Sunday, the Pentagon announced Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered an aircraft carrier strike group and an amphibious assault group to stay in the region. The Pentagon also issued a warning to Iran on Sunday, saying Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “made clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people.”
