US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin on Sunday warned any “organization” or “country” that would be tempted to “expand” the conflict in the Middle East, saying the United States would “not hesitate to act” if its interests were targeted. A few hours after the Pentagon announced the strengthening of its military presence in the region in the face of “recent escalations by Iran and its affiliated forces”, Lloyd Austin hammered on ABC News addressing “those who would seek to widen the conflict (…): Our advice is ‘don’t do it’. We preserve our right to defend ourselves and we will not hesitate to act accordingly.”
“In fact, what we are seeing,” the defense secretary insisted, “is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks against our troops and nationals in the region.” “For these reasons, we will do what is necessary to ensure that our troops are well positioned, protected and that we have the capacity to respond,” Lloyd Austin further warned.
“Additional” military forces soon in “pre-deployment” state
In a press release overnight from Saturday to Sunday, the head of the Pentagon announced the deployment of a high altitude anti-missile defense system (THAAD) as well as several batteries of Patriot surface-to-air missiles “in the region”. In addition, “additional” military forces will be placed in a “pre-deployment” state, in order to “increase their readiness and their ability to respond as quickly as necessary.”
According to Lloyd Austin, this is about “strengthening” “regional deterrence” and “contributing to the defense of Israel”. The Pentagon did not specify in its press release how many American soldiers would be deployed in addition to the soldiers already present in the Near and Middle East, particularly in Iraq where American troops were recently the target of attacks.
“Extremely unfortunate situation”
Sunday, speaking to ABC News, the minister again warned “any organization or any country that would seek to widen the conflict and take advantage of this extremely unfortunate situation”, but he did not cite Iran or Hezbollah. whom Israel accused on Sunday of “drag Lebanon into war”. Lloyd Austin indicated in his press release on Saturday evening that all these military measures had been decided after “specific discussions” with President Joe Biden, who visited Israel on Wednesday.