Iran’s proxy terrorists have increasingly targeted Mideast bases that include American military forces, raising the specter of the US being dragged into an armed conflict.

US and allied military personel have thwarted many of the attacks, although others have caused some damage and minor injuries.

Biden administration officials have issued stern warnings against Iran and the terror groups it supports over the continued provocations, with a top aide vowing Monday, “We will not hesitate to protect our forces.

“We don’t necessarily see that Iran has explicitly ordered them to take these kinds of attacks,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters Monday.

“We haven’t seen a direct order, for example, from the Supreme Leader saying: ‘Go out and do this,’ ” he said before adding, “No one wants to see a wider regional conflict, but we will not hesitate to protect our forces.”

John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, added, “We know Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability here.

“But we’re not going to allow them to do that. We’re also not going to allow any threat to our interests in the region to go unchallenged.

Iran uses money, weapons and logistical support to back radical terror groups across the Middle East to counter its regional rival Saudi Arabia and battle enemies Israel and the United States. Its proxies include:

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1. Hezbollah of Lebanon: The “Party of God” was founded in 1982, its name chosen by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, with 1,500 Revolutionary Guards sent to train its fighters. The group has become a “shadow nation” inside Lebanon, and was used by Iran to attack Israel and prop up Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War. Since the Hamas attack, Hezbollah has fired rockets into Israel, and Iran has threatened to launch a full-on assault in the north if Israel invades Gaza.
2. Hamas of Gaza: The “Islamic Resistance Movement” was founded in 1987 and has close ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. It has control of Gaza and exercises influence in the West Bank. Despite religious differences with Iran, the group shares the goal of exterminating Israel. Intelligence shows Iran knew of and backed the Hamas surprise attack on Israel.
3. Palestine Islamic Jihad of the West Bank: Sometimes an ally and sometimes a rival of Hamas, it also receives funding and arms from Iran and seeks the overthrow of Israel. Over the weekend, an Israeli airstrike hit a command center being used by both Hamas and PIJ in the West Bank — a sign that the West Bank could be used to attack Israel as it commits troops to Gaza.
4. Spies in Jordan: King Abdullah II of Jordan has friendly relations with the US, which Iran seeks to disrupt. The nation’s government was nearly overthrown by the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1970s and worries that Iran is funding anti-government terrorists in the country.
5. Assad of Syria: Syria is Iran’s closest ally since the two nations aligned against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. During the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Iran helped keep President Bashar al-Assad in power by providing him technical support and personnel. Since the Hamas attack, Syria claims Israel has dropped bombs on airports in Syria, likely to disrupt the flow of Iranian supplies and weapons. Syria fired artillery into Israeli territory. Meanwhile, a drone attack by an Iranian-backed group wounded US troops at Al-Tanf base. While Assad may not go so far as to declare war on Israel, he’s happy to have Iran use his country to provide support to Hezbollah and Hamas.
6. Houthis of Yemen: Islamic rebels who wish to overthrow the government of Yemen (left). Their slogan is “God is great, death to the US, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.” It’s become a proxy war for Iran, which backs the rebels, and Saudi Arabia, which supports the current president, Rashad al-Alimi. Last week, the Houthis fired nine cruise missiles and 15 drones toward Israel over a period of nine hours. They were shot down by the USS Carney, a destroyer that the US had sent into the Red Sea.
7. Kataib Hezbollah of Iraq: Iran backs a number of groups in neighboring Iraq, and since the fall of Saddam Hussein has pushed for a Shia-backed government. But Kataib Hezbollah, the “Party of God Brigades,” may be the most dangerous. It has carried out a string of attacks on US forces. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was advising the group when he was killed by a US strike in 2020. Since the Hamas attack, drones and rockets from Kataib Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups have been fired at the Ain al-Asad air base that the US uses.
8. Al-Ashtar Brigades of Bahrain: Shia group that seeks the overthrow of the monarchy of Bahrain, with Iran’s support.

“We know Iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases actively facilitating these attacks,” he said.

Over the past week alone, there have been about a half dozen publicly confirmed skirmishes between Iranian proxies and US forces.

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The spike in attacks against American personnel in the Middle East appears to have been fueled by the war raging in Israel in response to Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 bloody attack on the Jewish state.

And a senior Pentagon official on Monday said there could still be an increase in attacks on American forces in the region.

“We see a prospect for much more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel in the near term,” a defense official explained at a background briefing, according to Fox News.

“And let’s be clear about it: the road leads back to Iran,” the official said.

On Monday, the Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq took credit for a would-be attack involving two drones against the al-Tanf garrison in a region of Syria that has frequently been used by terrorists to traffic weapons.

The drones were intercepted by forces on the US base, and no one was injured, according to Ryder.

The US is believed to currently have around 900 troops station in Syria. Al-Tanf is fixated near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan.

On Sunday, Katyusha rockets impacted the Ain al-Asad air base where US and international forces are stationed, Reuters reported.

A day before, al-Asad air base’s defense systems downed two drones that flew near the base, according to Reuters.

The US has at least 2,500 personal stationed in Iraq.

The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer vessel operating near the northern part of the Red Sea, downed multiple missiles believed to have been launched by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Officials said they weren’t sure about the intended target of the attack, but the military decided to shoot down the rockets after determining they posed a potential threat.

The incident stretched nearly nine hours and involved four cruise missiles and 15 drones, CNN reported.

On Thursday, a pair of drones believed to have come from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the al-Tanf garrison.

In that incident, one of the drones was destroyed, and another one cause minor injuries on the base, according to US officials.

A separate spate of drone attacks also took place in eastern Syria near the Deir al-Zor region and targeted the Conoco gas field, according to Syrian opposition activists.

American troops are housed in that oil facility.

On Oct. 18, US Central Command confirmed that within 24 hours, US forces staved off three drone attacks in Iraq.

The first involved a pair of drones that zeroed in on the al-Asad base. One of those drones was intercepted, while another exploded, leading to some minor injuries, Reuters reported.

Medical personel also evaluated some service members for possible traumatic brain injury.

One contractor suffered a cardiac event while scrambling to take shelter, then later died as a result.

Then in northern Iraq, a drone attacked al-Harir air base, but the device eventually dropped into a desert area not far from the base.

President Biden has sought to deter Iran from exploiting the conflict in Israel.

“Iran is supporting Russia in Ukraine, and it’s supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region,’ Biden declared during his prime time address Thursday. ‘We’ll continue to hold them accountable, I might add.”

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Meanwhile, Iraq’s prime minister has ordered a pursuit of the culprits behind the attacks on US personnel.

“Attacks that target Iraqi bases that houses advisers from the international coalition in Iraq are unacceptable. They are here based on the invitation of the government,” a spokesman said.

US intelligence officials believe there are “red lights flashing everywhere” that Iranian-backed militias in the region are planning to continue ratcheting up their offense against American Mideast forces, CNN reported.

Some politicians such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have argued that the US should threaten war with Iran if Tehran escalates the conflict in Israel further.