The Pentagon is sending additional U.S. troops to the Middle East amid rising tension between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.
On Monday, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters, “In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region. But for operational security reasons, I’m not going to comment on or provide specifics.”
Fox News reported that the United States currently has roughly 40,000 troops in the Middle East region. According to USA Today, the Pentagon’s decision to send an undisclosed number of additional troops to the Middle East comes after Lebanon’s health ministry claimed that at least 274 people were killed and over a thousand were injured as a result of Israeli airstrikes conducted against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
An anonymous U.S. official described the decision to send additional U.S. troops to the Middle East as an insurance policy in a statement to USA Today. However, the official said the Pentagon’s deployment of additional U.S. troops was not an indication that troops would be required in the region for combat in the near future.
In a video released Monday on X, formerly Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned civilians in Lebanon to “get out of harm’s way” as Israel conducted strikes against the terrorist organization in Lebanon.
“Israel’s war is not with you. It’s with Hezbollah. For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garages,” Netanyahu stated. “Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens. To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out those weapons.”
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“Please, get out of harm’s way now,” Netanyahu added. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
According to Fox News, the Israeli prime minister’s warning came as Israel conducted strikes against Hezbollah targets in eastern and southern Lebanon. USA Today said Israel’s military conducted strikes against 800 Hezbollah targets during its most recent wave of attacks.
USA Today reported that Herzi Halevi, Israel’s chief of the military’s general staff, described the strikes as a “proactive defense operation” intended to stop Hezbollah’s plans to attack Israel. Halevi explained, “We are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years.”
