While Middle East tensions soared to explosive highs this past week with the unprecedented direct exchange of attacks between Iran and Israel, U.S. troops have once again found themselves under fire, threatening to drag Washington further into the crisis consuming the region. 

Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder confirmed on Monday reports of what he called “a failed rocket attack near the coalition base at Rumalyn in Syria.” In response, he said, a coalition fighter “destroyed a launcher in self-defense.” 

That same day, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller condemned what he called an “attack by an Iran-aligned militia group against U.S. forces in Syria,” and said he found it “especially troubling” that the attack was conducted just hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had wrapped up his visit to Washington, D.C. 

“It seems clear that Iran has no respect for Iraqi sovereignty,” Miller said. “We’ve seen these attacks, obviously, in the past. We have made quite clear to Iran, we’ve made quite clear to Iran’s proxy groups that we will defend our interests, we will defend our personnel, and that continues to be the case.” 

No group has yet officially claimed responsibility for the attack, not even the Islamic Resistance in Iraq coalition that led the charge on the previous monthslong campaign of rocket and drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. That campaign began shortly after war erupted last October between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza, but it was paused after the deaths of three U.S. troops in one attack at the Jordan-Syria border was followed by intensive U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. 

As militia officials had previously told Newsweek, the suspension of this campaign was viewed as tied directly to expectations that talks between Sudani and U.S. President Joe Biden would result in the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. However, U.S. defense officials said on more than one occasion ahead of the discussions that there were no plans for such an exit, and none have been announced.

Whether the latest attack in Syria marks the return of regular militia attacks against U.S. troops remains to be seen. In a statement issued via Telegram on Monday, Kataib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful factions attached to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, denied that such a decision had been made. 

Meanwhile, the war in Gaza rages on. With no sign of a ceasefire, Israel has vowed to carry out a ground offensive into the southern border region of Rafah, opposed even by the U.S. over concerns for more than a million Palestinians estimated to be taking shelter there.  

Israel has also stepped up assassinations against top officials of Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, with which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is engaged in daily border clashes that threaten to escalate into a broader war. Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, also continues to claim attacks against Israel, as does the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. 

As Israel marks an especially difficult Passover this year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Tuesday that, “Israel's strength, both defensive and offensive, has been recently displayed,” and that, “There is more to come. We will prevail.” 

Hamas, though under significant pressure on the battlefield, also exudes confidence in victory as it praises those conducting attacks on Israel on all fronts. The group’s messaging was further amplified by reports of an alleged mass grave of more than 300 bodies discovered so far near the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, though the IDF has vehemently denied any connection to the site. 

“Neither this sadistic army nor its failed leadership will be more fortunate than the murderous invaders throughout history,” Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obaida said in a statement Tuesday. “Rather, they will reap more anger, a spirit of revenge, and a willingness to sweep them away and confront them in and around Palestine, and even across the entire world.” 

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