Violence in the Mideast, rising threats from Islamic State group in Afghanistan pressure US, allies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Exploding violence in the Middle East, fueled by Iran, presents the most likely threat to the U.S. homeland, and the risk of an attack by violent extremists in Afghanistan on American and Western interests abroad is increasing, the top U.S. commander for the region told a Senate committee Thursday.

Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, said the Islamic State group’s Khorasan affiliates in Afghanistan and Syria “retain the capability and the will” to attack and could strike “in as little as six months and with little to no warning.” Such an attack would be more likely against the U.S. and its allies in Europe, and it will take “substantially more resources” to hit the U.S. homeland.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kurilla painted a dire picture of violence in the Middle East region in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. That assault and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, has fueled attacks by Iran-backed militant groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, threatening maritime traffic in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and targeting U.S. bases and troops across the region.

In response, the U.S. has retaliated with a handful of strikes in Iraq and Syria, and a persistent campaign of attacks against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

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