The Department of Defense (DOD) announced this Tuesday that it will deploy 300 more troops to the Middle East. General Pat Ryder, Press Secretary of the Pentagon and Air Force Brigade, assured that they will not be assigned to Israel but will be sent to protect U.S. bases.
They will provide capabilities and explosive ordinance disposal, communications and other support enablers for the forces already on the ground. "They are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities," Ryder explained during a press conference.
The decision is not unexpected. In recent weeks, the Pentagon Press Secretary said, U.S. bases have been the targets of an increasing number of attacks. Specifically, he revealed that a total of 27 attacks have been recorded since October 17, 16 in Iraq and 11 in Syria. None of them resulted in material damage or injuries, but there was an increase in attacks on the bases they have deployed in Middle Eastern countries where troops are working to defeat ISIS:
Since our self-defense strikes [on Oct. 26], there have been six additional, what I would consider, small-scale attacks: Three in Iraq, three in Syria.
The DOD rules out that the increase in attacks is due to the war between Israel and Hamas
Despite the increase in attacks, General Pat Ryder assured that the Pentagon does not believe that this increase is due to the conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas. The U.S. military blamed Iran for the attacks. This was stated by Ryder in statements collected by Breitbart:
Well, certainly 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 that in and of itself is not unusual.
These 300 additional troops will join the 900 that the Department of Defense deployed on October 26. They come from Fort Bliss (Texas), Fort Sill (Oklahoma), Fort Liberty (North Carolina) and Fort Cavazos (Texas):
As part of our efforts to deter a broader conflict and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities, I can confirm that since our initial force posture announcement, approximately 900 troops have subsequently deployed or are in the process of deploying to the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility. These include forces that have been on prepare-to-deploy orders and which are deploying from the continental United States.
