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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that he has directed “the deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.

“Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” Hegseth said in a post on social platform X.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday that he has directed “the deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.

“Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” Hegseth said in a post on social platform X.

On Saturday, as a crowd of thousands of people near the Washington Monument listened, a loudspeaker dramatically announced the names of the US secretary of defense, vice-president and president. The final name received a modest roar that surely flushed the watching commander-in-chief with validation. With that, and with the boom of a 21-gun salute, the military parade that Donald Trump had coveted for years finally began.

A protester, Nicky Sundt, kept a lonely and mostly silent vigil at the side of the road. She held a sign depicting a cartoon Trump brushing back his comb-over to reveal a swastika emblazoned on his forehead. The placard said “Save our democracy”. Standing near her – as a “counterprotest to the counterprotest to the protest, or something,” as one of them put it – a group of pro-Trump men held court. One was draped in an American flag. Another had a giant picture of Trump, in a crown, with the exhortation “Trump for king”.

The U.S. is assisting Israel in intercepting Iranian missiles launched Friday, a U.S. official confirmed to The Hill.

President Trump has also spoken to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a White House official confirmed. Trump had spent Friday in the Situation Room huddled with several national security advisers.

Israel came under heavy bombardment from Iran less than 24 hours after Israeli forces launched attacks overnight Thursday that targeted Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and killed multiple top military officials.

Dozens of ballistic missiles have been fired on Tel Aviv, Israeli officials said Friday amid Iran’s counterattack.

The Trump administration said late Thursday it was not involved in Israel’s offensive strikes inside Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the time said Israel had advised the U.S. that its action was “necessary for its self-defense.”

TV NL Comment: What country, other than Israel, is attacking anyone, anywhere? Why can Israel produce nuclear weapons while Iran may not?

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California national guards troops and marines deployed to Los Angeles to help restore order after days of protest against the Trump administration have told friends and family members they are deeply unhappy about the assignment and worry their only meaningful role will be as pawns in a political battle they do not want to join.

Three different advocacy organisations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions.

“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” said Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative, which represents the interests of military spouses, children and veterans.

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The Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops to Los Angeles to intervene in civilian protests in the face of opposition from the Californian governor is a major escalation that risks the politicisation of the US military, armed service veterans are warning.

Former top military figures have told the Guardian that the decision to put up to 2,000 troops under federal control and send them into the streets of LA is a violation of the military’s commitment to keep out of domestic politics in all but the most exceptional circumstances. The last time a US president federalised the national guard against the wishes of a state governor was in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson deployed them to protect civil rights marchers in Alabama.

“This is the politicisation of the armed forces,” said Maj Gen Paul Eaton. “It casts the military in a terrible light – it’s that man on horseback, who really doesn’t want to be there, out in front of American citizens.”

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