Citing a DoD document that circulated earlier this month, the Intercept reported that the troops stationed in Iraq since last year are being forewarned to prepare to be deployed.
While it did not suggest that U.S. military ground involvement in the war is forthcoming, the January memo is the latest intimation of the Pentagon's preparations to support Israel in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. After the said assault, the U.S. military was said to put 2,000 troops on prepare-to-deploy orders for potential support to Israel, though from neighboring countries. It also immediately dispatched two aircraft carriers to the region.
The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment but until this moment, Washington maintains its support for Israel in the Gaza war. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the support would not include "boots on the ground." "But as we've also said, we have significant national security interests in the region," Kirby added.
In fact, the U.S. special forces have been active in Israel since October, with senior official Christopher Maier telling reporters at the time that American commandos were "actively helping the Israelis to do several things." The pentagon also admitted to flying spy drones over Gaza "in support of hostage recovery efforts." The White House posted a picture of U.S. President Joe Biden in Israel posing alongside members of the secretive U.S. special operations units, then quickly deleted it afterward. The memo obtained by the news outlet just proved that the U.S. military presence is still in the Middle East, with personnel deployed to theaters where many Americans think the mission ended long ago
Also, since the Gaza war began, American soldiers in Iraq, Syria and Jordan have come under fire more than 150 times, with Iran-aligned Shi'ite militias subjecting their bases to regular drone and rocket barrages. One such attack in Jordan killed three U.S. soldiers and injured others. "As we said before, if the U.S. keeps supporting Israel, there will be escalations," a senior official from an alliance of Iraqi militia said. "All U.S. interests in the region are legitimate targets, and we don't care about U.S. threats to respond."
Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that American ships and warplanes have launched strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen to break a blockade on "Israel-linked" merchant shipping passing through the Red Sea. They are countering attacks by the Yemeni militant group targeting U.S. commercial and military vessels in the area.
Pentagram or pentagon
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