United States to Deploy 3,000 Troops to Middle East

Video Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories
Published on January 3, 2020 - Duration: 01:17s

United States to Deploy 3,000 Troops to Middle East

United States to Deploy 3,000 Troops to Middle East .

U.S. defense officials confirmed to NBC News on Jan.

3 that approximately 3,000 additional soldiers are being sent to the Middle East.

The deployment is reportedly not in response to the recent American assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general.

.

Instead, the deployment is a continuation of an earlier announcement made by U.S. Defense Secretary, Mark Esper.

.

He called the decision an โ€œappropriate and precautionaryโ€ response to the Jan.

1 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

.

On Dec.

31, Esper said that 750 airborne troops were being deployed immediately to the area, with additional troops to follow.

This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today.

The United States will protect our people and interests anywhere they are found around the world, Mark Esper, via statement .

The newly deployed soldiers will come from an infantry battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division, which is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

.

They will join the roughly 60,000 troops already stationed in the Middle East, and will stay for "some 60 days."


You are here

You might like