The Pentagon plans to send dozens of U.S. troops to the Middle East in the coming days to prepare to help Americans fleeing the region in the event of an escalation in the simmering conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, three defense officials said.
The U.S. troops will add to the roughly 40,000 troops already deployed in the region, a presence that has grown as Israel’s war with Hamas continues and tensions with Hezbollah rise. Officials said the new forces will have a different mission: to be on standby if Americans are threatened by fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and need to be evacuated.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Monday the US would send a small number of additional troops to “bolster US forces already in the region.” He declined to say how many additional troops would be sent or why or where, citing operational security.
Smoke rises from the site of Israeli artillery fire in the southern Lebanese village of Zayta on Monday. Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP – Getty Images
Biden administration officials are concerned about a lack of understanding about what Israel’s plans are for a conflict with Hezbollah, an issue that has also surfaced at times in Israel’s war with Hamas.
Israel significantly escalated its air strikes on Lebanon on Monday, killing about 500 people and wounding more than 1,600.
Three U.S. defense officials said the Biden administration and Israeli government officials have had frequent discussions and meetings but that Israel has not shared detailed information about its military developments.
Nearly a year after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, there is growing concern within the administration that the United States is losing its ability to prevent a broader conflict despite months of intensive efforts, and that hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza are fading.
Israel and Hezbollah have stepped up missile attacks on each other, and tensions escalated last week when Israel detonated explosives in pagers and walkie-talkies that it had secretly supplied to Hezbollah fighters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has warned of a possible military attack, but Israeli officials have not told U.S. officials if or when a ground offensive might begin, leaving the U.S. to look for signs of a ground movement, such as Israel calling up large numbers of reservists or moving tanks toward the Lebanese border, the officials said.
Officials estimate that a major offensive into southern Lebanon would require thousands more soldiers and armored vehicles, in addition to troops to defend the territory. The Israeli army has recently moved a brigade and some equipment toward the northern border with Lebanon, but there are no signs a ground attack is imminent, defense officials have said.
The Biden administration is considering options to send other military assets to the region in addition to the tens of thousands of U.S. troops currently stationed there.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman recently left Norfolk, Virginia, for a scheduled deployment to Europe, but if fighting in Lebanon escalates, the Carrier Strike Group, which includes multiple ships and aircraft, could redeploy to the Middle East to join the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and further strengthen the U.S. presence.
Conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could dash already fading hopes of a ceasefire with Hamas and a hostage exchange.
President Joe Biden this month directed his administration to prepare a best-effort, final proposal for a ceasefire and hostage agreement, aiming to present it before the U.N. General Assembly gets into full swing this week, according to two current U.S. officials and one former official familiar with the plans. Biden administration officials thought it could be advantageous to urge all parties to accept the agreement now, with the world’s attention focused on events at the U.N. in New York, the officials said.
Biden is not scheduled to meet with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week.
The idea of submitting such a proposal has been delayed amid rising tensions, but the Biden administration continues to support Israel with arms sales and shipments even as ceasefires hang in the balance, the Middle East teeters on the brink of a larger conflict and Israel has not shared its plans with the U.S., officials said.
Mosheh Gains and Dan De Luce contributed.
