U.S. Moves to War Footing as Threats Multiply

Joe Biden has ordered a second carrier strike group from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. This is in addition to sending air defense assets and additional troops to the region as U.S. forces have come under attack from drones and rockets believed to have been fired by Houthi rebels allied with Iran.

That means that more than 120 combat aircraft will be within easy striking distance of Iran should Tehran look to escalate the conflict with Hamas to include Hezbollah and other regional terrorist groups.

In addition to being a deterrent, the combined strike groups would give the United States air superiority in the region along with air defense assets like Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles and additional Patriot air defense battalions.

“Following detailed discussions with President Biden on recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the Middle East Region, today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defense posture in the region,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

“These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel,” he added.

The threats facing U.S. bases and personnel are multiplying with terrorist groups in addition to Hezbollah moving to attack U.S. troops in the region. The threats are specific enough to alarm regional commanders and have them request additional assets from the Biden administration.

CNN:

The US has intelligence that Iranian-backed militia groups are planning to ramp up attacks against US forces in the Middle East, as Iran seeks to capitalize on the backlash in the region to US support for Israel, according to multiple US officials.

The militia groups have already launched multiple drone attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria.

But the US now has specific intelligence that those same groups could escalate even further as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

There are “red lights flashing everywhere,” a US official in the region told CNN.

The longer the Israeli-Hamas war goes on, the greater the chance that the violence will escalate and spread. This is exactly what Hamas is hoping for and what their paymasters in Tehran have been planning for.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is kept occupied by pin-prick attacks by terrorist groups, freezing their forces in place to defend bases and personnel.

“We see a prospect for much more significant escalation against US forces and personnel in the near term,” a senior defense official told CNN. “And let’s be clear about it. The road leads back to Iran. Iran funds, arms, equips and trains militias and proxy forces all across the region. … We are preparing for this escalation, both in terms of defending our forces and being prepared to respond decisively.”

Hezbollah has its own agenda in this war that probably doesn’t include being destroyed by Israel. Iran, too, would be insane to provoke a war with Israel given the state of its conventional forces and the general disrepair of their equipment.

But encouraging attacks by other terrorist proxies in the region is part of Iran’s playbook. We can expect a lot more of that in the next few weeks.