U.S. and coalition forces in the Middle East have come under attack 23 times since mid-October, a senior defense official said Monday.

Between Oct. 17-30, American troops were attacked with rockets and drones 14 times in Iraq and nine times in Syria, the official told reporters.

Most of the attacks were “unsuccessful” as they were “successfully disrupted by our military,” the official noted.

U.S. officials believe Iranian-backed militants are behind the assaults.

“Iran’s objective for a long time has been to force a withdrawal of the U.S. military from the region,” they said. “What I would observe is that we’re still there.”

To combat the attacks, Washington last week struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran and its proxies, destroying a weapons storage facility and an ammunition storage area used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups.

The Biden administration has also worked to send a “strong” message of deterrence to Iran as concerns of a wider regional conflict escalate, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told White House media earlier Monday, as reported by CNN.

“We’re certainly going to act — if we have to — to continue to protect our troops and our facilities. We have proven that we will strike and act to do that. And that’s a strong message that Iran needs to take away. We take those responsibilities seriously.”

The Pentagon has also sent 900 troops to the Middle East to operate a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and Patriot battalions, in addition to the two aircraft carrier strike groups moved to the region earlier this month.

“We’ve got to make sure we send a signal to all actors, not just Iran, but all actors, certainly Iran included, that we will take our national security interest very seriously. We will protect and defend our troops. And we’ll do it at a time [and] in a manner of our choosing,” Kirby said.

U.S. officials worry that Iran may use the Hamas-Israel war to open another front in the conflict, with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warning Sunday that Israel had “crossed the red lines” that “may force everyone to take action.”

Tehran funds Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both militant organizations have stated aims to destroy Israel.

300 More Troops Head to Middle East Amid Constant Drone and Rocket Attacks.

The Pentagon is deploying 300 more troops to the Middle East as attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria continue to grow and have taken on a near-daily frequency.

"These additional troops will provide capabilities in explosive ordnance disposal, communications and other support enablers for forces already in the region," Pentagon top spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday.

The news of the extra troops comes just a week after the Pentagon deployed Army air defense units from three bases across the U.S., and after 14 new drone and rocket attacks on locations in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 24. The deployment also comes after it moved two carrier strike groups to the region earlier this month to support Israel as it wages war against Hamas.

Ryder told reporters that the Defense Department is now tracking a total of 27 attacks -- 16 in Iraq, 11 in Syria -- since Oct. 17. The Pentagon conducted a retaliatory strike with U.S. fighter jets Oct. 26 on two locations in eastern Syria that were linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Attacks on U.S. bases on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 left 21 U.S. personnel with "minor injuries." Of those injuries, 19 were diagnosed as traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, a defense official told Military.com last week.

Ryder said that the more recent attacks have inflicted no injuries and no damage to the targeted bases.

Despite the massive show of military forces in the region to support Israel, the Pentagon has firmly maintained that it sees these attacks and the latest troop deployments as unrelated to the conflict between Israeli forces and Hamas. That war began earlier this month when Hamas brutally attacked Israel, killing about 1,400 Israelis.

"Our forces are in Iraq and Syria for one purpose -- which is the enduring defeat of ISIS. ... This is separate and distinct from the situation in Israel," Ryder said, referring to the Islamic State terrorist group.

However, on Monday, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that officials started seeing attacks in Iraq and Syria on Oct. 17; on that same day, the Pentagon announced that it was placing around 2,000 troops on "prepare to deploy orders." The 300 new deploying troops are part of that group.

"We will not discuss specific deployment locations for these forces, but I can confirm they're not going to Israel and that they are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities," Ryder said of the newly deployed forces.

In addition to forces on the ground and an increase to some of the squadrons in the area, the Pentagon has moved the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group, as well as a command ship, into the waters of Israel.

It also ordered the recently deployed USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group into the waters in the Middle East and moved a pair of ships carrying a Marine expeditionary force into the Red Sea.