Blinken and Austin say US ready to respond if American personnel become targets of Israel-Hamas war

(Patria) - Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday that the United States expects the Israel-Hamas war to escalate through the involvement of Iran's proxies and asserted that the Biden administration is prepared to respond if American personnel or armed forces become targets of any such hostilities, AP reports.

“This is not what we want, not what we seek. We do not want escalation,” Blinken said.

“We do not want our forces or our personnel to come under fire. But if that happens, we are ready.”

Austin, echoing Blinken's words, said that “what we are seeing is the prospect of a significant
escalation of attacks on our troops and our people across the region.” He said the US has the right to self-defense “and we will not hesitate to take appropriate action.”

The warning from US officials comes as Israel's military response to the Hamas attack on October 7 continues. Israeli aircraft struck targets across Gaza overnight and on Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants, as the war threatened to engulf much of the Middle East.

Israel has exchanged fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah almost daily since the start of the war, and tensions are rising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent days.

The US announced on Sunday that non-essential personnel at its embassy in Iraq
should leave the country. Blinken, who has spent nearly several days in the region, spoke of “the likelihood of escalation” and said no one wants to see a second or third front of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

He said he expects “an escalation by Iranian proxies directed against our forces,
directed against our personnel,” and added: “We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if needed.”

Blinken, appearing on NBC's “Meet the Press,” noted that additional military assets have been deployed to the region, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, “not to provoke, but to deter, to make very clear that if anyone tries anything, we are there.”