The United States has sent more troops to Israel amid fresh attacks on Lebanon. The Israeli Defense Forces say that the U.S. has deployed a “small number” of troops after Israel bombarded Lebanon with a “large-scale military operation.”

”In light of increased tension 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 our forces already in the region,” Spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder said. “But for operational security reasons, I’m not going to comment on or provide specifics.”

According to a report by RT, the U.S. currently has around 40,000 troops stationed in the Middle East, along with several Navy warships and aircraft carriers, including the USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Abraham Lincoln. The military assets are positioned in multiple locations to respond to potential attacks against Israel or American interests.

And it looks like the U.S. is going to help Israel ramp up this war, as they begin an incursion into Lebanon while still trying to end Hamas in Palestine.

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On Monday, Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Hezbollah, dubbed “Northern Arrows,” in which the IDF claims to have struck “approximately 1,600 Hezbollah terrorist targets” in multiple strikes on southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

”We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases, which I will elaborate on shortly,” Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi announced on Monday. “Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant.” –RT

The major expansion of this war came last week when Israel detonated pagers and other communications devices used by Hezbollah militants. On Friday, Israeli jets bombarded Beirut, killing Ibrahim Aqil, a senior Hezbollah commander. Hezbollah retaliated by launching dozens of rockets at Israel and announcing an “open-ended battle of reckoning” on Sunday.

So far, Lebanon’s response has been lackluster by comparison. Will all that eventually change? Or will we simply see a large war being carried out by Israel with no end in sight?