An unspecified number of troops in the US have been put on prepare to deploy orders, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday.

“Secretary Austin increased the readiness of additional US forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” she said. “I’m just not going to get into specifics for [operational security] reasons, but these forces cover a wide range of capabilities and missions.”

Singh also said that additional air defense support going to the region, announced by the Pentagon on Sunday, are units previously scheduled to deploy that will now be joining units already there instead of replacing them.

The reinforcement of air support capabilities, she said, includes “a certain number of units already deployed to the Middle East region that will be extended, and the forces due to rotate into theater to replace them will now instead augment the in-place forces already in the region.” It will include “an additional few thousand” service members in the region, she said.

“I can tell you these augmented forces include F-16, F-15E, A-10, F-22 fighter aircraft and associated personnel,” Singh said.

  • _bcron@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    I dream of a world where Iranians and Saudis just shrug and say “America’s cool, I guess. They just mind their own business over there and in the east.” Israel’s over in the corner like, “nawww, that’d be pretty bold and shortsighted”

    • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      God, remember just before the Arab Spring when we were supposed to ‘pivot’ to South Asia and leave the sandbox behind?

      Fuck.

      • _bcron@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        It’s as if we’re trying to build a South Korea in the middle east but Netanyahu is fucking it all up times ten

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Don’t think such a project would be very successful even without Netanyahu. I suspect the support we’ve given since the 80s are closer to making a North Korea in the Middle East, simply by removing consequences for provoking their neighbors for ‘security concerns’.