 Iran prepares to escalate attacks against U.S. troops in Syria. Iran is arming militants in Syria for a new phase of lethal attacks against U.S. troops in the country, while also working with Russia on a broader strategy to drive Americans from the region intelligent officials and leaked classified documents say, according to the Washington Post, Iran and its allies are building and training forces to use more powerful armor-piercing roadside bombs intended specifically to target U.S. military vehicles and kill U.S. personnel according to classified intelligence reports obtained by the Washington Post. Such attacks would constitute an escalation of Iran's long-running campaign of using proxy militias to launch rocket and drone strikes on U.S. forces in Syria. The document in the trove describes a new and broader effort by Moscow, Damascus and Tehran to oust the United States from Syria, a long-sought goal that could allow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to reclaim eastern provinces now controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. The leaked documents point to a more active role by Moscow in the broader anti-U.S. effort. Russia, like Iran, intervened militarily in Syria's civil war to keep the Assad regime in power and now backs the government's efforts to regain control of the entire country.