US to send more troops to Middle East after Israeli targets Hezbollah in major Lebanon strike

(This story was updated to add new information.)

The Pentagon announced Monday that it is bolstering its forces in the Middle East as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah spike.

The move, with an undisclosed number of troops, follows Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Hezbollah targets that killed at least 274 people and wounded more than a thousand, according to Lebanon's health ministry, and increasing rocket and missile fire on Israel.

“In light of increased tensions in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment forces already in the region,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. “For operations security reasons, we won’t comment on or provide specific details.”

More: Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon escalate in most widespread attack since Oct. 7

There are about 40,000 U.S. troops in the region. The Pentagon has maintained a robust presence there since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, hoping to contain the fighting there.

The new deployment was characterized as an insurance policy by a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Given the increased tension in the region, the move is prudent but does not indicate U.S. troops were needed for imminent combat, the official said.

Deadliest day in Lebanon since 1990

The barrage of airstrikes on Monday, which hit across Lebanon from its southern border with Israel to northern regions near Syria, was the most widespread Israeli attack on the country since last October. With at least 274 dead, it was the single deadliest day since the end of the country's civil war in 1990, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Israel's military said it had struck 800 targets, including houses hiding weapons for Hezbollah. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military's chief of the general staff, called the attack a "proactive defense operation" to head off Hezbollah's plans to attack Israel. "We are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years," he said.

Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, briefed U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the strikes.

Thousands of Lebanese residents received phone calls from the Israeli military warning them to evacuate any Hezbollah posts. Hezbollah launched dozens of retaliatory rockets towards northern Israel.

Ziad Makary, Lebanon's information minister, called the phone calls "psychological warfare" and refused to evacuate the ministry.

The attack came days after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon in an Israel-linked attack, killing 37 and widening fears of an all-out war.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US sending more troops to Middle East as Israel, Hezbollah tensions spike