The “incompetence” of Iran’s agents threatens the US military more than their strength
More than a month before the drone attack that killed three American soldiers in Jordan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to reassure American forces about the army’s ability to confront attacks by incompetent militants from factions loyal to Iran.
Austin said in previously unpublished statements to sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford” on December 20, said that the main reason behind the failure of the militants of the pro-Iranian factions to achieve this is that they “do not have the necessary competence to carry out what they are doing.”
“Iranian proxies fire on our forces stationed in Iraq and Syria every day,” Austin told the aircraft carrier crew. They did not succeed at all for two reasons: the first is that they lack competence in implementing what they do.”
But the other reason, which Austin sees, is that the US Army “did a lot to ensure that it received adequate protection,” and he said: “In the end, as we all know, they may be unlucky one day and injure one of our soldiers, but we will be careful and ensure that that does not happen.” .
In the wake of the drone attack, President Joe Biden’s administration pledged to do everything necessary to protect American forces from the escalating cycle of violence in the Middle East, where pro-Iranian militants are shooting at them in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.
But current and former American officials say, according to what was reported by Reuters, that the success of militants from time to time in carrying out attacks may be inevitable given the huge number of drones, missiles and missiles fired at American forces, in addition to the fact that the defenses cannot be Completely effective 100% of the time.
Experts also warn against underestimating Tehran-backed militants, even if most of their attacks fail.
Charles Lister, from the Washington-based Middle East Institute, pointed out that former US President Barack Obama described ISIS as a school team for juniors in 2014 while the organization was gathering strength.
“To say, Obama-style: ‘Well, they’re just a school team for juniors,’ and make fun… and we’re sure nothing serious will happen is just very naive,” Lester said.
He continued: “These groups have carried out sophisticated cross-border attacks and have a history of killing American forces.”
But American leaders have a long history of showing a brave face to their forces. Austin is a retired senior general who served on the ground in Iraq and was shot himself.
Reuters quoted US Defense Department spokesman Major General Patrick Ryder as saying that Austin feels angry and deeply saddened by the killing of soldiers in Jordan and has “no more important priority than protecting our forces and caring for our people.”
American soldiers carry the body of their colleague who was killed last month in an attack on a base in Jordan (AFP)
Tragic but to be expected
As of February 7, US forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan had been subjected to more than 168 attacks since tensions escalated in the Middle East in October with the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
These attacks caused the injury of 143 American soldiers, including two very seriously and nine seriously injured.
The worst attack occurred on January 28, when a drone struck a US base called “Tower 22” on Jordan’s border with Syria, killing Sergeant William Jerome Rivers, Private Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Private Breonna Alexandria Moffitt.
A senior US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described this attack as “tragic and unfortunate, but it was expected,” according to Reuters.
“This is the nature of the fighting,” the former official said. “It’s not a fortified environment, where you can be perfect at defending yourself.”
General Daniel Hokanson, head of the US National Guard – which deploys soldiers in Tower 22, some of whom were injured – told reporters that the army is working hard to ensure that the forces have access to various methods of protection to reduce risks. He added: “Unfortunately, there is no system that is 100 percent successful in everything.”
A routine American patrol on the Jordanian-Syrian border (archives – Cent.com)
Unsophisticated attack
While the US military is still conducting its investigations, US officials said that there were several factors that may have contributed to the failure of US defenses at the remote base in Jordan.
They added, in statements reported by Reuters, that the most prominent of these factors is the low level at which the drone was flying when it approached the “Tower 22” base.
They also say that it does not appear that the militants used complex or sophisticated methods in the attack that occurred on a Sunday morning, such as coordinating the timing of the drone’s approach with the arrival of an American drone, to confuse American defenses.
Instead, some US officials concluded that the success of the strike was just a possibility: when a large amount of munitions are fired at well-defended targets, some of them will eventually reach the desired target.
The armed attack, which the US Department of Defense says bears the “fingerprints” of the Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq, led to a series of US retaliatory attacks in Iraq and Syria targeting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the armed groups it supports, including a drone attack in Baghdad (Wednesday). ) resulted in the killing of a leader in this faction, named Abu Baqir al-Saadi.
Information obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat revealed that Al-Saadi is the Brigades’ external operations official, and that he is rarely in Iraq because of his preoccupation with Syria.
Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said that the US Army continues “to take the necessary steps to protect our forces that are performing their duties in dangerous locations, and to constantly re-evaluate the procedures to protect our forces.” He did not go into details regarding any modifications to the US defenses, indicating that this is for security reasons related to the security of the US Army. Military operations.
Critics of US President Joe Biden’s administration’s approach warn that retaliatory attacks are not enough to put pressure on Iran, which supports these armed groups. Some current and former officials believe that Iran can order these groups to stop carrying out their operations.
Some Republicans in Congress are calling for US strikes against Iranian forces even inside Iran itself, something that the Biden administration is reluctant to do for fear of dragging Iran into a broader war.
The former American military official said: “Iran can stop these attacks if it wants to.”
2024-02-09 15:58:00
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