The United States military is taking new steps to protect its troops in the Middle East as concerns grow about attacks by Iranian-backed groups, and is leaving open the possibility of evacuating military families if necessary. officials told Reuters.
The measures include increasing U.S. military patrols, restricting access to base facilities and increasing intelligence collection, including through drones and other surveillance operations, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US military is also beefing up monitoring of watchtowers at US military installations, increasing security at base access points and expanding operations to combat the possible entry of drones, rockets and missiles, according to officials.
The new package of protection measures for the US Armed Forces has not been previously reported.
“With the number of attacks and attempted attacks on U.S. military sites increasing, continued review of our force protection measures is critical,” said U.S. Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command. USA, in a statement to Reuters.
US forces in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly targeted since the conflict between Israel and Gaza began on October 7. The attacks caused minor injuries to four U.S. military service members so far and five U.S. military contractors, all of whom have returned to work, one of the officials said.
Last week, off the coast of Yemen, a US warship shot down more than a dozen drones and four cruise missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthis.
Rising tensions have put the US team on constant alert. During a false alarm at Al-Asad air base in Iraq on Thursday (19), a civilian contractor died of cardiac arrest.
A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say specifically what might trigger the evacuation of families of U.S. service members stationed in Middle Eastern locations such as Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
“We continuously analyze and if we think the threat is rising to a level that threatens the dependents of our service members in the (region), we will err on the side of caution,” the source told Reuters.
Biden administration officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have warned of the risk of a major escalation in attacks on US troops in the Middle East and that Iran could try to escalate the war between Israel and Hamas.
“We see the prospect of a much more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel in the near term, and let’s be clear, the path leads back to Iran,” a senior defense official told Pentagon reporters on Monday. fair (23).
Source: CNN Brasil
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