GROUND-BASED MISSILE SYSTEMS RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT BIDEN TROOPS PROMISE

Sun 22 October 2023:

The US is deploying additional air defence systems to the Middle East in response to escalations in the region, according to reports from the Pentagon.

In a statement issued on Saturday night local time, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he had “activated the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as well as additional Patriot battalions to locations throughout the [Middle East]”.

Austin said the the deployments were in response to “recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces” and to “assist in the defence of Israel”.

Austin added that he had placed an unspecified number of additional US forces on “prepare to deploy orders” as part of “contingency planning”

US President Joe Biden has promised the US will not send troops to Israel and Gaza but the deployment of two ground-based missile systems to the region is raising questions, says Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro in Washington, DC.

US Secretary of Defense Austin said the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and a Patriot system to the region is intended as “deterrence” and containment – but it could be read another way, said Zhou.

“Sending these ground-based missile defence systems may show further escalation of this even though the US is now framing it as deterrence,” Zhou said live from the US capital.

Also unknown is where the missile systems will go without breaking Biden’s promise to the US public of “no boots on the ground,” she said. The US has 2,500 and 900 soldiers in Iraq and Syria, respectively, which means they could go there.

The US earlier moved two aircraft carriers and their support ships in the Mediterranean Sea closer to Israel, all of which carry thousands of military personnel.

The Pentagon has also placed some 2,000 troops on high alert.

Biden has asked the US Congress for an additional $14bn in military aid for Israel but it is unclear how soon it will be released amid turmoil in the US House of Representatives and additional budget fights.