U.S. Deploys Missile Defenses to Middle East Following Recent Attacks

WASHINGTON—The U.S. has deployed an anti-ballistic missile defense system and several Patriot missile battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon said, days after U.S. bases and a U.S. warship came under drone attack.

The attacks on a base in Syria and at least three in Iraq, plus the interception of missiles and drones by a U.S. missile-guided destroyer in the Red Sea over the past week raised fears that the fighting between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas militants could expand into a regional conflict.