U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the Pentagon to begin removing some military capabilities and forces from the Gulf region, WSJ reported on Thursday.
Biden's command aims at realigning the U.S. global military footprint away from the Mideast, changes that come as Saudi Arabia endures rocket and drone attacks from inside Yemen and Iraq, according to the report.
Moreover, the U.S. has removed at least three Patriot antimissile batteries from the Gulf region, including one from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which had been put in place in recent years to help in protecting American forces.
U.S. officials affirmed that some capabilities, including an aircraft carrier aircraft (Eisenhower) and surveillance systems, are being perted from the Middle East in order to answer military needs elsewhere around the globe, adding that other reductions are under consideration, the report noted.
Additionally, the officials asserted that an initiative had been put forward to withdraw the "THAAD" air defense missile system from the region, but it is still deployed there until now.
WSJ stressed that this removal of the Patriot batteries means that several thousand troops may leave the region over time, indicating that there were about 50,000 troops in the region last year, down from a high of about 90,000 at the height of tensions between the Trump administration and Iran about two years ago.
In the same vein, the Pentagon has formed a team of experts to study options to support Saudi Arabia, which is currently under intense attacks by groups linked to Iran in Yemen and Iraq.
Officials claim that these moves come within the early stage of the Biden administration’s movement to reduce Washington's presence in the Middle East.
On their part, defense officials declined to provide any specifics about the reductions in military capabilities or forces. Saudi officials didn’t respond to a request for comment about Biden's plans.
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