The Pentagon is sending 300 more troops to the Middle East as attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria have become near-daily amid the Israel-Hamas war.
The additional troops will help with “explosive ordnance disposal, communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters Tuesday.
The American forces will be sent to the region under U.S. Central Command, which spans the Middle East and Egypt in northeast Africa.
Ryder would not say where they will be sent but stressed they are not going to Israel, saying “they are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities.”
The news comes less than a week after defense officials announced it had begun to deploy 900 troops from Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina to accompany a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and Patriot and Avenger batteries sent to the region due to a spike in attacks on bases that house U.S. forces.
Since Oct. 17, U.S. and coalition forces have been attacked at least 16 times in Iraq and 11 in Syria via one-way attack drones and rockets, Ryder said Tuesday. Twenty-one American troops sustained minor injuries in these attacks, including 19 traumatic brain injuries.
In response, President Biden authorized an Oct. 26 strike on two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran and its proxies.
Tensions in the Middle East continue to boil over the Israel-Hamas war, prompting Washington to move two carrier strike groups to the region last month to support Israel as it seeks to wipe out the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip.
But Ryder insisted the attacks in Iraq and Syria, coupled with the recent troop deployments, are unrelated to the war.
“Our forces are in Iraq and Syria for one purpose, which is the enduring defeat of ISIS. ... So this is separate and distinct from the situation in Israel,” Ryder said.
Asked what has led to the increase in attacks over the past couple of weeks if they are unrelated to the Israel-Hamas conflict, Ryder said the uptick was “not unusual.”
“This is not the first time we've seen these Iranian proxy groups do these kinds of things for a multitude of purported various reasons, so that in and of itself is not unusual,” he said.