Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered more US troops, ships, fighter jets and “land-based” firepower to the Middle East to counter Iranian threats in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday. 

The US military “posture adjustments” come as Israel gears up for a likely retaliatory strike from Iran and its proxies related to the recent assassinations of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr.

“[S]ecretary Austin has ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the US European Command and US Central Command regions,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement outlining the additional resources being sent to the region. 

“The Department is also taking steps to increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense,” she added. 

The US and Israel are preparing for a likely retaliatory strike from Iran related to the killings of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The Pentagon will also be deploying an “additional fighter squadron to the Middle East” as well as replacing the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group with the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, Singh said. 

She noted that Austin ordered the adjustments “to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies” and that they will complement the “broad range of capabilities” the US already has in place in the region. 

In April, US forces in the Mediterranean Sea intercepted “dozens” of missiles and drones launched from Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, that were aimed at Israel.

That attack – a barrage of some 300 ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones – came in response to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Damascus, Syria, which killed two senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders. 

Austin has ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers as well as additional land-based ballistic missile defense capabilities to be deployed to the Middle East. Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK

The US is also sending an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East. AP

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for a direct strike on the Jewish State over the killing of Haniyeh, who was reportedly blown apart by a covertly placed bomb in his Tehran guesthouse.

Haniyeh’s funeral was held Friday in Doha, Qatar. 

Hamas had called for a “day of rage” to coincide with the late leader’s burial.

Shukr, who is believed to have ordered the rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 children last month, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut earlier this week. 

The Israel Defense Forces have been placed on “high alert” over fears of another massive wave of attacks from Iran in response to the killings of Shukr and Haniyeh.

The Pentagon spokeswoman noted that the US “remains intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the region and pushing for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal” but “retains the capability to deploy on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.”