US sending additional forces to Middle East as Israel-Hezbollah conflict grows

The US is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East in response to a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon that has raised the risk of a greater regional war, the Pentagon said Monday.

Major Genera Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, would not say how many more forces would be deployed or what they would be tasked to do. The US now has about 40,000 troops in the region. In the past, that number has exceeded 50,000.

On Monday, the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, two US Navy destroyers and a cruiser set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, headed to the Sixth Fleet area in Europe on a regularly scheduled deployment.

The ships’ departure opens up the possibility that the US could keep both the Truman and the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which is in the Persian Gulf, in the region in case more violence breaks out.