17:35,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS.  The United States military has put 2,000 troops on deployment alert, the Pentagon said Tuesday, in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. 

''US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin placed the personnel and a range of units "on a heightened state of readiness through a prepare to deploy order," the Pentagon said in a statement, to be able "to respond quickly to the evolving security environment in the Middle East."