U.S. to send troops to be ready to help evacuate U.S. citizens from Lebanon
The Defense Department plans to send a few dozen U.S. troops to the Middle East in the coming days to be ready to help Americans flee a region bracing for a significant escalation in the simmering conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to three defense officials.
The Defense Department plans to send a few dozen U.S. troops to the Middle East in the coming days to be ready to help Americans flee a region bracing for a significant escalation in the simmering conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to three defense officials.
The U.S. forces will add to the roughly 40,000 troops already in the region — a presence that has grown as the war between Israel and Hamas continued and tensions with Hezbollah intensified. The new troops will have a different mission, the officials said, specifically to be on standby if the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatens Americans and evacuations are needed.
The Pentagon press secretary, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, said Monday that the U.S. was sending a small number of additional American forces “to augment our forces that are already in the region.” He declined to identify how many of the additional troops would be deployed, why or where, citing operational security.
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Zaita on Monday.Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP - Getty ImagesBiden administration officials are concerned about a lack of understanding about what Israel’s plans are when it comes to conflict with Hezbollah, an issue that has also arisen at times during Israel’s war against Hamas.
On Monday, Israel dramatically expanded its aerial assaults on Lebanon with airstrikes that killed nearly 500 people and wounded more than 1,600.
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