New US troops in Middle East may aid evacuation if needed, officials say

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — a U.S. MV-22B Osprey prepares to leave Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, to escort approximately 150 personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, on the morning of July 26, 2014. (U.S. Marine Corps photograph by Sgt. Shawn Valosin via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new U.S. deployment of a small number of troops to the Middle East announced earlier this week could help the U.S. military prepare for scenarios including an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

Officials say the move is precautionary and comes as President Joe Biden warns of the risk of all-out war and as Israel openly talks about a possible ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

While Washington has urged U.S. citizens to leave Lebanon, the U.S. State Department has not ordered an evacuation of U.S. personnel from Lebanon nor requested any assistance so far from the U.S. military to evacuate Americans from the country, U.S. officials say.

But close U.S. ally Britain announced on Wednesday it was moving troops to Cyprus in position to help evacuate nationals trapped in Lebanon.

The additional U.S. forces deploying to the Middle East are also headed to Cyprus, the officials say, and number in the dozens.

At the time of the Pentagon announcement, the U.S. Defense Department declined to offer a number of forces deploying or to specify their mission.

Israel's military chief told troops on Wednesday that airstrikes in Lebanon would continue in order to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure and to prepare the way for a possible ground operation by Israeli forces.

Israeli airstrikes this week have targeted Hezbollah leaders and hit hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have fled the border region, while the group has fired barrages of rockets into Israel.

Biden's administration has been seeking to contain the conflict to Gaza and has repeatedly called for the Israel-Lebanon border crisis to be resolved through diplomacy. That call for diplomacy has been underscored by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in his calls with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Experts question whether Iran would stay on the sidelines if the existence of Lebanon's Hezbollah were threatened, and say U.S. troops could also find themselves targeted throughout the Middle East if a regional war breaks out.



(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; editing by Jonathan Oatis)