During an unannounced visit to Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday the 5th, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Iran that the United States would continue to defend its forces and our partner allies against any further Iranian or Iranian-backed proxy attacks. In what seems to be the most favorite word or phrase of President Biden's administration, Blinken's warning was a stern "Don't." 

“It was very important to send a very clear message to anyone who might seek to take advantage of the conflict in Gaza to threaten our personnel here or anywhere else in the region: Don’t do it,” Mr. Blinken said in a brief address from the Baghdad airport, before leaving for meetings with Turkish leaders in Ankara on Monday.

Tensions in the region are extremely high as the United States and its allies have sent military forces to the region. However, China's People's Liberation Army Navy has also sent some of its ships to the region as well. Recently, an attack by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen was foiled when a US Navy destroyer shot down three land attack-guided cruise missiles and several drones in what US Officials speculated was either an attack on Israel or Saudi Arabia. Shortly after the cruise missiles and drones were shot down, the US Air Force launched airstrikes against Iranian proxy forces in Syria. The airstrikes were in response to attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, where Iranian proxies used drones to attack American troops and civilian contractors at their bases. 

During Blinken's trip to Iraq, he also warned the Iraqi government that any attacks from Iraqi-based militias on American forces would possibly bring "reprisals." 

“The attacks, the threats coming from militia that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable,” Mr. Blinken said in brief remarks to reporters at the Baghdad airport before his departure.

“We are not looking for conflict with Iran — we made that very clear — but we will do what’s necessary to protect our personnel, be they military or civilian.”

With the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza in its 5th week, and with no end in sight, the entire Middle East region is under immense pressure. On Friday, October 27th, the State Department issued an updated advisory to all American civilians in Lebanon to "leave now." State Department officials stated that the situation in Lebanon is "unpredictable," with Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists openly operating in the country as well as targeting Israeli forces across the Lebanese border with Israel. 

“The best time to leave a country is before a crisis if at all possible. U.S. military-assisted evacuations of civilians from a foreign country are rare,” the administration wrote. “There is no guarantee the U.S. government will evacuate private U.S. citizens and their family members in a crisis situation.”

The U.S. government is unable to provide certain types of transportation and also cannot evacuate pets alongside U.S. citizens in times of crisis, the advisory states.

It is possible that the 26th MEUSOC that is operating in the Mediterranean Sea will be used to conduct a Non-combatant Evacuation Operation in an area of Lebanon to extract American civilians and or State Department personnel if some kind of hostilities were to break out. A NEO is one of the Marine Corps's specialty operations when embarked as a Marine Expeditionary Unit. 

The 26th MEUSOC is comprised of roughly 2,400 Marines and Sailors and is formed from aviation units flying the F-35B, MV-22 Ospreys, and other helicopters, an infantry battalion, with supporting artillery and track units, in addition to whatever special operations forces they may have attached. 

American forces that are deployed, or are standing by to be deployed to the region, have a very difficult mission ahead of them. On one hand, self-defense is pretty simple as well as cut and dry. However, when we are forced to prosecute targets that are outside of our defensive bubble, that is when things can quickly get out of hand and very quickly. As stated earlier, America is not the only nation with military forces deployed in the region. Other American allies, as well as adversaries, are deploying or already deployed to the region as well. The Middle East is a powder keg with the lid off and one tiny spark can set that keg off, and turn into World War III. The desire to prevent that from happening is strong, but everyone's patience is running thin. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail in this war.