US reduces its military presence in the Middle East

SANAA, Jun. 19 (YPA) – The United States has begun to reduce its military presence in the Middle East, US media reported Friday.

According to a report published by  the Wall Street Journal on Friday evening, the Pentagon has decided to reduce its air defense systems in the Middle East, although it has already strengthened these systems in 2019 and 2020, claiming tension with Iran.

In early June, the Pentagon began withdrawing eight anti-missile batteries from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan, as well as the USTHAAD anti-missile defense system, which had previously been deployed in Saudi Arabia, the paper said.

The Biden administration is counting on reducing the number of US anti-missile systems in the Middle East, with the aim of reorganizing its military presence around the world, the newspaper quoted senior administration officials as saying.

The former US administration, led by Donald Trump, sent the Patriot battery system in 2020, following the killing of the  commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated on January 3, 2020, in a US raid near Baghdad International Airport.

The United States is currently withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, in parallel with the reduction of its military forces in Iraq, as well.

E.M