A top White House national security adviser on Sunday said the United States sees an “elevated risk” of the Israel–Hamas war widening into a regional conflict.
“We are vigilant, because we are seeing elevated threats against our forces throughout the region and an elevated risk of this conflict spreading to other parts of the region. We are doing everything in our power to deter and prevent that,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
It comes as the United States carried out multiple airstrikes against assets in Syria, reportedly targeting Iran-backed militia groups. Earlier this month, U.S. troops came under attack in both Iraq and Syria, although officials have not disclosed who was behind the attacks.
“We, of course, are taking every measure necessary to protect our forces, to increase our vigilance and to work with other countries in the region to try to keep this conflict that is currently in Israel and Gaza from spinning out into a regional conflict,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But the risk is real, and therefore, vigilance is high, and the steps that we are taking to deter that and prevent that are serious, systematic and ongoing.”
Also Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, told CNN that Iran doesn’t want the conflict to spread elsewhere in the Middle East. “We don’t want this war to spread out,” he said.
Mr. Amirabdollahian on Sunday also dismissed claims directly connecting Iran to the attacks as “baseless,” adding, “We always had political media and international support for Palestine. We have never denied this.”
“This is the truth, but in relation to this operation called the Al Aqsa Storm, there was no connection to that data between Iran and this Hamas operation, not my government nor part of my country,” he added.
U.S. and coalition troops have been attacked at least 19 times in Iraq and in Syria by Iran-backed forces in the past week. However, Mr. Amirabdollahian said linking Iran to any attack in the region, if U.S. interests are targeted, without providing proof, is “totally wrong.”
People in the region were angry, he said, and “they are not receiving orders from us. They act according to their own interest. Also, what happened, what was carried out by Hamas, it was totally Palestinian.”
Other Moves
The Pentagon said on Thursday that the U.S. military carried out strikes on two places storing weapons and munitions in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and groups it supports.Before that, a recently deployed U.S. Navy destroyer shot down missiles and drones that were allegedly launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia group earlier this month. That ship was part of two U.S. aircraft carrier groups that were mobilized to the region after the Israel–Hamas conflict erupted this month, coming after Hamas carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Israel that left hundreds of civilians dead.
Israeli forces over the weekend started the first phase of a widely anticipated ground invasion of Gaza, a narrow strip of land where Hamas operates.
“We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a briefing over the weekend. “We will do everything we can from the air, sea and land to ensure the safety of our forces and achieve the goals of the war.”
Also Sunday, Mr. Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, said that President Joe Biden would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Sunday.
