The Pentagon is sending about 2,000 more troops to Saudi Arabia, including squadrons of fighter jets and air defense missile batteries, Defense Department officials said Friday.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper authorized the deployment of two fighter squadrons, two batteries of Patriot missiles, a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system, and an Air Force headquarters unit “at the request of U.S. Central Command,” Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
The deployment is meant to “assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia,” Hoffman said, following attacks on the kingdom’s oil infrastructure last month that the U.S. and European allies have blamed on Iran.
The new troops will bring to 3,000 the number of forces “authorized or extended within the past month” since the attacks, Hoffman said. The Pentagon had earlier announced another deployment of air defense personnel. A defense official put the size of the newest deployment at 2,000 troops.
Taken along with other deployments of fighters, bombers, and air defense troops during the spring and summer, the U.S. military has boosted its troop presence in the Middle East “by approximately 14,000” since May, Hoffman added.
