Following its Level 3 Security Alert to its citizens in Lebanon, the US embassy in Awkar is taking more security measures to counter Iranian threats to the United States. US officials brace for Iran’s response to the killing of its top and most powerful commander.
Since the Iranian threats, the US Department of Defense put on alert its military forces based in Italy “as a step within a series of military measures to protect American interests in the Middle East region,” as explained by a US official.
These “military measures” include sending reinforcements to the US embassy in Awkar – Beirut. US forces are now reportedly readying to head to Lebanon from Italy, with their arrival expected soon.
Speculations on how and when they’ll arrive are various yet nothing has been revealed, naturally.
Iran has already started its retaliation. On Wednesday, as reported by the Associated Press (AP), “Iran struck back at the United States […], firing a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq housing American troops in a major escalation between the two longtime foes.”
That strike is deemed “Iran’s most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran,” according to AP.
The Associated Press (AP) also reported that a “heightened military readiness” in Iran has been noted by U.S. officials who warned their ships across Mideast waterways about the “possibility of Iranian action.”
In Lebanon, the US Embassy has reportedly imposed on all its personnel new preventive security measures, which details were not revealed.
A Lebanese security source of Asharq Al-Awsat shared that these measures include the ambassador and the diplomats, as well as American citizens in Lebanon, and Lebanese holding US citizenship.
No official statement in that context was issued by the US Embassy.
Meanwhile, Lebanon is being urged by friendly countries to speed the formation of the government as a must to face related developments that could be dangerous.
