Fort Liberty troops among those deploying to Middle East
Patriot missile battalions from Fort Liberty and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, are deploying to the Middle East in support of Israel in its war against Hamas, the Pentagon announced this week.
“What I can tell you is that the THAAD battery is coming from Fort Bliss, Texas. And the Patriot battalions and batteries are coming from across Fort Liberty in North Carolina and Fort Sill in Oklahoma,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said during a briefing Tuesday. THAAD stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. Ryder declined to say where the troops are headed but noted that the Fort Liberty deployments are underway.
He said the move of troops comes as the U.S. is preparing for an increase in violence, noting that there have already been at least 13 attacks against troops and installations in Iraq and Syria.
“What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran,” said Ryder, the Pentagon's press secretary.
He added that the U.S. won’t hesitate to take action if needed to protect its forces and interests in the region.
“We've already deployed a significant number of additional U.S. military capabilities into the region to bolster our regional deterrence efforts, strengthen our capabilities there and enhance our ability to respond to a range of contingencies,” Ryder said.
He confirmed that the New Jersey Air National Guard's 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived within U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility Tuesday with an additional F-16 fighting Falcon Squadron “bolstering U.S. posture to deter further aggression in the region.”
The White House said Tuesday that “prudent contingency planning” is underway to evacuate Americans from the Middle East in case the Israel-Hamas war spreads into a broad regional conflict.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stressed there are currently no “active efforts” to evacuate Americans from the region beyond charter flights the U.S government began operating earlier this month out of Israel.
“It would be imprudent and irresponsible if we didn’t have folks thinking through a broad range of contingencies and possibilities,” Kirby said. “And certainly evacuations are one of those things.”
The White House addressed the contingency plans amid growing concerns that the 18-day-old Israel-Hamas war could further escalate. The U.S. has advised Israel that postponing a possible ground invasion of Gaza could be helpful as the U.S. and other partners in the region try to secure the release of more than 200 hostages who were captured in the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil. The contingency planning was first reported by The Washington Post.
“The Israelis are making their own decisions,” Biden said Tuesday night when asked whether he has asked Israel to hold off on its expected ground offensive.
President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone Tuesday about the deteriorating situation. It was the two leaders' first interaction since before the Hamas attack on Israel.
Biden and the crown prince spoke about “efforts to deter state and non-state actors from widening the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” according to the White House. Biden administration officials have repeatedly warned Iran not to become involved in the conflict. U.S. forces in the region over the last few days have come under repeated attacks that the Pentagon has said were likely endorsed by Iran, which is the chief sponsor of Hamas, the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, as well as militant groups in Iraq and Yemen.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fort Liberty troops among those deploying to Middle East
