US deploying more troops to West Asia amid Israeli escalation of violence

The US Department of Defense has decided to deploy more boots to West Asia amid the Israeli escalation of war in the region.

Additional US troops will be deployed to the Middle East in response to a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon spokesperson said on Monday.

Gen. Pat Ryder announced the new deployment without providing details on how many additional forces would be needed or what they would be tasked to do.

“In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US 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.”

The United Nations has sounded the alarm, warning that the escalating violence between the Israeli regime forces and the Hezbollah resistance movement in Lebanon was catapulting the Middle East conflict "to another level".

UN: Escalation of war on Lebanon needs to stop

The UN insists the Israeli escalation of war on Lebanon needs to stop.

Prior to the latest escalation of violence, the Pentagon had announced that the approximately 40,000 US troops deployed in the region were "enough to protect Israel."

In addition to tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East region, the Pentagon has warships, fighter jets, and air defense systems deployed to protect both its forces and the Israeli regime.

Ryder warned of the potential for the Israel-Hezbollah violence to escalate, calling for a diplomatic solution.

"Clearly there is the potential for these tit-for-tat operations between Israel and Hezbollah to escalate and to potentially spiral out of control into a wider regional war, which is why it's so important that we resolve... the situation through diplomacy," Ryder said.

Middle East tensions rose sharply after the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shakr in Beirut at the end of July, prompting the Pentagon to begin sending additional US troops to the region. The US military claimed the additional American troops would not be engaged by the Israeli forces for "offensive" operations against Hezbollah.

Pentagon's announcement comes as fears of a broader regional war grow, with Israel striking hundreds of targets in Lebanon following Israel's communication devices terror attacks which targeted Hezbollah cadre and civilians with exploding pagers earlier this week. The attacks killed 37 Lebanese and injured thousands more.

World powers have called on the Israeli regime and Hezbollah to pull back from the brink of an all-out war, with the focus of violence shifting sharply in recent days from Israel's southern front with Gaza to its northern border with Lebanon.

Hezbollah, a powerful political and military force in Lebanon, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli regime forces in support of the defenseless Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) and the Ansarallah-led government of Yemen stand alongside Hamas and Hezbollah, targeting US and Israeli positions in the region in an effort to oppose Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The occupying zionist regime forces launched the genocidal war on helpless Palestinians trapped in Gaza almost a year ago in early October, which has claimed the lives of more than 41,400 people, most of them innocent women and children.

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