US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday that Washington “will not hesitate to take military action” against any organization or country that feels tempted to expand the Middle East conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A few hours after the Pentagon announced the strengthening of its military presence in the region in light of “recent escalations by Iran and its affiliated forces,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin left a message on ABC News “to those attempting to to expand power’. conflict”.
“Our advice is: ‘Don’t do this’. We reserve our right to defend ourselves and will not hesitate to act accordingly,” he stated.
The United States announced a military build-up in the Middle East on Saturday evening in response to “recent escalations by Iran and its affiliates” in the region.
A high-altitude anti-missile defense system and several Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries will be deployed “across the region,” and more military assets have been placed in a “pre-deployment” state, Lloyd Austin announced in a statement. .
In turn, Iran’s Foreign Minister today warned the United States and Israel that the situation in the Middle East “could become out of control” if they did not “immediately put an end to the crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza ‘.
“Today the region is like a powder keg (…). I would like to warn the United States and the Israeli puppet regime that if they do not immediately put an end to the crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza, everything is possible at any time and the region could become uncontrollable,” said Hossein Amir- Abdollahian in a statement in Tehran with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor.
The international community fears an expansion of the war between the Islamist movement Hamas and Israel and greater involvement of the Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, backed by Iran.
The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the raid of armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has been classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States. Israel bombed several of the group’s infrastructures in the Gaza Strip and imposed a total siege. the area with an interruption of the supply of water, fuel and electricity.
The Rafah terminal, in southern Gaza and the only border crossing into Egypt, will allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian territory.
The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries in both areas, among military personnel and civilians.
Source: DN
