IRIA News

The U.S. Department of Defense has accused Iran of being “actively facilitating” attacks on the U.S. military personnel deployed in the Middle East. The United States has increased its military deployment in the region following the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.S. troops and military bases in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly attacked through rockets and drones. The United States Department of Defense has reported that some of the U.S. troops in the region have faced injuries because of these attacks. Washington has accused Tehran of facilitating the attacks.

A Pentagon official told journalists that Iran-backed militia groups in the Middle East are planning to ramp up their attacks on the U.S. military facilities and personnel in the region. He said that the U.S. has concrete intelligence about Iran’s involvement in the recent attack. “Red lights flashing everywhere,” he said.

While speaking at a press briefing in the White House, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby also echoed the concerns about the “uptick” in rocket and drone attacks over the course of the last week. He also blamed Iranian-backed proxy groups. “We are deeply concerned about the potential for any significant escalation of these attacks,” said Kirby.

After detailed discussions with @POTUS on recent escalations by Iran & its proxy forces across the Middle East, I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen DoD posture in the region.https://t.co/yTE6JyqsIt

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) October 22, 2023

“Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of Iran,” he added.

Attacks on US soldiers

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, tensions have been rising in the region as the violence spilled over across the borders of Israel and Palestine. The U.S. forces deployed in Iraq, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries are facing an uptick in threats and attacks amid the rising tensions in the region. Drones and missiles were launched at a U.S. military in Iraq this week, while a drone attack on the U.S. troops in Syria resulted in minor injuries to the soldiers.

The opposition to the U.S. military in the Middle East increased significantly after the U.S. deployed additional naval power in the region the past two weeks, including two aircraft carriers, other warships, and about 2,000 marines, following the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

A drone targeted the U.S. forces at Al-Tanf base, near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan, resulting in minor injuries, while another was brought down. The U.S. officials did not say who was responsible for the attack at that time while no one claimed the responsibility.

U.S. military forces in Iraq were also targeted in two separate drone attacks, with one causing minor injuries to a small number of troops even though the U.S. military managed to intercept the armed drone.

During the spree of small rocket and drone attacks on the U.S. military installment in the Middle East, alarms were sounded at Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, where civilians were alerted to seek shelter. A civilian contractor died from cardiac arrest following the alarms.

Several armed organizations in the Middle East have been actively trying to resist Israel’s attack on Gaza. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed fighters, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the two drone attacks in Iraq and saying it “heralds more operations” against the “American occupation”.

Death toll in Gaza rises to 5000

The civilian casualties in Gaza have surpassed 5,000 since the start of Israel’s carpet bombing of the region. Children make up 40 percent of the dead, according to the Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Thousands of buildings have been destroyed, and more than one million people displaced in the territory, which has been under siege and largely deprived of water, food, and other basic supplies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Israel would “erase Hamas”, an armed group that runs Gaza, as a full-scale ground invasion loomed.