Dozens of U.S. troops have been deployed to Cyprus amid sharply escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, and they are preparing for a range of contingencies including a possible evacuation operation from Lebanon for U.S. citizens should a full-blown war erupt, four U.S. officials told CNN.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said earlier this week that the U.S. military would be deploying “a small number of U.S. military personnel forward” to the region “out of an abundance of caution.” But he declined to say how many troops were deployed, where they were sent, and what branch they belonged to.
Cyprus played a key role in helping to evacuate foreign nationals from Lebanon during Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, facilitating the departure and accommodation of tens of thousands of people at the time as they fled the conflict.
Cyprus’s deputy government spokesperson, Yiannis Antoniou, told Reuters …