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Middle East crisis looks set to explode into all out war as America threatens retaliation for rocket blast that hit soldiers in Iraq - as military scrambles destroyers and fighter jets to Israel
American defense officials are planning for the crisis in the Middle East to become even worse following a rocket black that injured several soldiers at a military base in Iraq Monday.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Monday night the US was deploying additional fighters, carrier strike groups, ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the region, as Israel awaits retaliation from Iran for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
'These posture adjustments add to the broad range of capabilities the US military maintains in the region, including the USS Wasp amphibious ready group/Marine expeditionary unit operating in the eastern Mediterranean,' a DOD spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris held an all-hands meeting in the situation room to discuss a response to the attack on Ain al-Assad base.
The base in the west of the country was targeted by two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets amid soaring tensions in the Middle East - with Iran threatening to strike Israel as early as Monday night.
American defense officials are beginning to plot for the crisis in the Middle East to become even worse following a rocket black that injured several soldiers at a military base in Iraq Monday
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Monday night that the United States was deploying additional fighters, carrier strike groups, ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the region
Biden and Harris were told by NatSec officials that it was still unclear when the retaliatory attack from Iran would come, Axios reported.
Officials told the president and vice president that they could potentially see two waves of attack, one each from Hezbollah and Iran.
However, intelligence was not clear on who would attack first and what form it would take, calling it a 'work in progress'.
'[Biden and Harris] discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing,' the White House said in a statement.
Israel Katz, the Israeli Foreign Minister, has said he has it on good authority that Iran is set to attack the Jewish state, according to the New York Post.
The killing of Haniyeh came a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The rocket fire on the US base is the latest in a series of attacks targeting the base in western Iraq, which hosts American troops as well as personnel from the US-led coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.
The base in the west of the country was targeted by two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets amid soaring tensions in the Middle East - with Iran threatening to strike Israel as early as tonight
The Department of Defense also confirmed the severity of the attack.
'There was a suspected rocket attack today against US and coalition forces' at the base, a US defense spokesperson said. 'Initial indications are that several US personnel were injured.'
'Base personnel are conducting a post-attack damage assessment' and updates will be provided as more information becomes available, the spokesperson added.
An Iraqi military source had earlier said that multiple rockets were fired at base, with some landing inside it and another hitting nearby village but not causing damage.
A commander in a pro-Iran armed group told AFP that at least two rockets targeted the base, without saying who had carried out the attack.
Another source in the group and a security source confirmed an attack occurred.
Such attacks were frequent early in the war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza but since then have largely halted.
The latest rocket fire comes as fears grow of an attack by Iran and its allies on Israel in retaliation for the killing of top Hamas and Hezbollah figures in strikes last weeks either blamed on or claimed by Israel.
Israel awaits retaliation from Iran for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last week
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, however Iran's proxy forces in Iraq and Syria frequently attack US bases at times of heightened tension.
Joe Biden was already scheduled to meet with his national security team in the Situation Room today as the lame-duck president seeks to soothe blistering tensions between Israel and Iran after the Jewish state assassinated Hamas leaders in Tehran and Beirut, Lebanon, last week.
The Islamic Republic could attack Israel in the next 24 to 48 hours following a major attack by Hezbollah that left two IDF soldiers injured, top western diplomats have warned.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the G7 yesterday that an attack in response to Israel's killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut was imminent, Axios reported.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reportedly spoke to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Sunday to assure the Jewish state of U.S. support.
It would mark the second time during the growing crisis in the Middle East that Iran has directly attacked Israel, the first being in April when it sent a salvo of missiles and drones overnight.
Iran has clearly signaled that it intends to attack its foe, claiming it has the 'legal right' to respond to Haniyeh's assassination. Foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani told a news conference: 'No one has the right to doubt Iran's legal right to punish the Zionist regime.'
The head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami, also threatened Israel, warning that the state was 'digging its own grave' by carrying on its war against the terror group Hamas.
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation is already in a 'multi-front war' with Iran
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The country is set to attack Israel imminently, claiming it has the 'legal right' to respond to Haniyeh's assassination
Footage shows the Iron Dome system firing defensive missiles (pictured) to intercept the barrage amid ongoing clashes between Israeli troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters
'They will see the result of their mistake. They will see when, how and where they will get their response,' Salami said during a speech.
The threat from Iran comes just hours after Hezbollah, backed by the Iranian regime, launched a silo of 30 missiles from Lebanon towards upper Galilee.
The escalating tensions between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran have led to growing fears of an all-out war breaking out in the Middle East between Israel and Tehran's proxies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation is already in a 'multi-front war' with Iran, adding during a Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel is prepared for any scenario.
Netanyahu has also been accused of not being 'sincerely interested in a ceasefire', as Hamas' Haniyeh was the terror group's lead ceasefire negotiator.
The U.S. said on the G7 call on Sunday that its choice to increase its military capability in the region was to bolster defense.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has left at least 39,583 people dead in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.