US sending more troops to Middle East as Israel-Hezbollah tension grows

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The US is sending a “small number” of additional troops to the Middle East in response to rising tension in the region, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The announcement comes as fears of a broader regional war grow, with Israel striking hundreds of targets in Lebanon in what is by far the deadliest cross-border escalation in nearly a year of violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

“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,” Pentagon spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder said, declining to provide further information for security reasons.

The US has thousands of troops in the Middle East region, as well as warships, fighter jets and air defence systems deployed to protect both its own forces and Israel.

Maj Gen 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,” he said.

World powers have implored Israel and Hezbollah to pull back from the brink of 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 Israel in support of its ally Hamas.

The Palestinian militant group carried out the deadliest attack on Israel soil on October 7, sparking a war that has drawn Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in the region into the violence.