US says it sent ‘military advisers’ to Israel

The United States has sent a “few” military advisers to Israel following the October 7 Hamas attacks, the White House says.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says the officers have experience in “the sorts of operations that Israel is conducting, and may conduct in the future,” and were “over there to share some perspectives.”

He also says Iran is “actively facilitating” attacks on US bases in the Middle East.

“Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of Iran,” Kirby says.

“We know Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we’re not going to allow them to do that,” Kirby adds.