It’s happened before, and now U.S. Defense Department officials fear it could happen again. With the unrest in the Middle East, the Pentagon has its eyes on Iran, with two sources from the Defense Department telling Politico that the Pentagon fears Iranian proxy groups may use instability in the region to attack American or allied troops stationed in Syria or Iraq. The latest such effort by Iran was in August 2022, when the U.S. confirmed it had prevented an attack in Syria led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “We will not let nefarious actors pull us into engagements that detract from our mission,” said Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, the spokesperson for the American military operation to counter ISIS in Syria and Iraq. At least 900 U.S. troops are stationed in Syria while another 2,500 remain in Iraq.
