(NewsNation) — The U.S. is scrambling to deploy nearly a dozen air defense systems to the Middle East after Israel agreed to delay its expected ground invasion of Gaza in order to protect American troops, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While a ground invasion of Gaza is imminent, Israel Defense Forces have not previously given a timeline of what that might look like. An IDF spokesperson told NewsNation on Wednesday that a ground offensive will occur when the time is right.
For now, Israel has agreed to hold off on invading Gaza until as early as later this week.
The Pentagon will allegedly deploy air-defense systems to the region to protect U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Syria, Kuwai, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arabs Emirates from missiles and rockets, the report said.
In addition to ensuring U.S. troops are prepared for potential attacks, the report said Israel is also taking into account its effort to supply humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians inside Gaza.
This comes as the Pentagon had recently sounded the alarm over drone and rocket attacks on American troops in the region. It had previously pinned the blame on Iranian proxy groups but has no evidence of Iran’s involvement.
At least 24 U.S. troops have been injured in at least 13 attacks over the past week in Iraq and Syria. U.S. officials also said these attacks have resulted in the death of an American contractor and the destruction of an American drone, according to WSJ.
But the Pentagon isn’t the only one sounding the alarm on Iran and its proxy fighters. An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson reverberated the same claims, saying Iran ordered recent attacks by allies in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.