The Pentagon is deploying 300 more troops to the Middle East as attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria continue to grow and have taken on a near-daily frequency.
“These additional troops will provide capabilities in explosive ordnance disposal, communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region,” Pentagon top spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday.
The news of the extra troops comes just a week after the Pentagon deployed Army air defense units from three bases across the U.S., and after 14 new drone and rocket attacks on locations in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 24. The deployment also comes after it moved two carrier strike groups to the region earlier this month to support israel as it wages war against Hamas.
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Ryder told reporters that the Defense Department is now tracking a total of 27 attacks — 16 in Iraq, 11 in Syria — since Oct. 17. The Pentagon conducted a retaliatory strike with U.S. fighter jets Oct. 26 on two locations in eastern Syria that were linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Attacks on U.S. bases on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 left 21 U.S. personnel with “minor injuries.” Of those injuries, 19 were diagnosed as traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, a defense official told Military.com last week.
Ryder said that the…
