The United States is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East given escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Pentagon said on Monday, declining to specify the precise number or mission of the deployed forces.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region," Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters.