Blinken, Austin say US is ready to respond if US personnel become targets of Israel-Hamas war
Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday that the United States expects the Israel-Hamas war to escalate through involvement by proxies of Iran, and they asserted that the Biden administration is prepared to respond if American personnel or armed forces become the target of any such hostilities. «This is not what we want, not what we're looking for.
We don't want escalation,» Blinken said. «We don't want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire.
But if that happens, we're ready for it.»
Austin, echoing Blinken, said «what we're seeing is a prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region.»
He said the US has the right to self-defence «and we won't hesitate to take the appropriate action.»
The warning from the high-ranking US officials came as Israel's military response to a deadly October 7 attack by Hamas on civilians in communities in southern Israel entered its third week.
Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into 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 more of the Middle East.
Israel has traded fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group on a near-daily basis since the war began, and tensions are soaring 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 Sunday that non-essential staff at its embassy in Iraq should leave the country.
