US sends more troops to Middle East; EU warns Israel-Hezbollah conflict veering towards ‘full-fledged war’

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targeting a Lebanese village, as seen from the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel, September 23, 2024. The Pentagon said Monday it was sending additional troops to the region. The European Union warned Monday that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah was escalating into a full-fledged war. Photo: Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE

September 24 (UPI) — The Pentagon said on Monday that additional troops would be sent to the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah rapidly escalates and the European Union warns it is escalating into a “full-fledged war.”

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Defense Department’s press secretary, announced to reporters during a news conference that “a small number of additional U.S. military personnel” are being sent to the Middle East “to augment our forces that are already in the region.”

He did not specify how many troops would be sent or whether they would be accompanied by additional equipment such as ships or planes.

“For operational security reasons, I will not comment or provide details,” he said.

Ryder made the declaration against the backdrop of an escalating conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed, Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Israeli warplanes struck some 1,300 Hezbollah targets on Monday, including rockets that Israeli officials said were hidden in civilian homes, across Lebanon, killing at least 492 people and wounding more than 1,640.

The two sides have been attacking each other across Lebanon’s southern border since Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began almost a year ago, but Israel has recently stepped up its bombardment of Hezbollah since last week, when communications devices belonging to the militants exploded in a coordinated attack that killed 37 people. Israel has not commented on the attack, but it has been blamed for it.

At the same time, Israeli officials announced a new war goal: the return of tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.

Some 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from northern Israeli towns close to the Lebanese border due to incessant artillery and rocket attacks from across the border.

Israel defended its massive attack Monday, saying Hezbollah had amassed an arsenal of weapons over the past 20 years and was planning to carry out an attack on Israel similar to the one Hamas carried out on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 Israelis and kicked off the nearly year-long war.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned at a press conference on Monday that the conflict was on the verge of a full-blown war.

“The escalation is extremely dangerous and worrying,” he said. “I would say we are almost in a full-fledged war. We are seeing more military attacks, more destruction, more collateral damage, more casualties.”

He said the attacks in Lebanon had forced thousands of people to flee north, straining the local transportation system. The detonation of Hezbollah communications devices — pagers on Tuesday and walkie-talkies on Wednesday — had created a sense of “terror” among the Lebanese population, he added.

“Civilians in Lebanon are paying an unacceptable, unacceptable price,” he said.

“And making explosions from a distance without taking into account the environment in which these explosives detonate is contrary to the Geneva Convention.”

He described the attacks as deliberate but random.

“I condemn. I still condemn,” he said.

To prevent further escalation, he is calling for renewed diplomatic mediation efforts, pointing to this week’s UN Future Summit 2024 as “the moment to do so.”

“Everyone must use their capabilities to stop this path to war,” he said.

However, he warned that the worst-case scenario of the conflict was “materializing.”

At a UN conference in New York, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced that he had requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Lebanon this week.