Since the outbreak of the “Aqsa Flood”, the United States has been committed to preventing the conflict from escalating and expanding into a regional conflict. As part of its military and diplomatic support for the Israeli occupying power, Washington has sent diplomatic and military messages to the resistance axis elements and Iran’s allies in the region, urging them not to engage in fighting.
The United States dispatched the aircraft carriers “Ford” and “Eisenhower” to the eastern Mediterranean. The “Ford” was commissioned in 2017. It is the newest aircraft carrier in the United States and the largest aircraft carrier in the world, with more than 5,000 sailors on board.
As for the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier “Eisenhower”, it was commissioned in 1977. It carries 5,000 sailors and can carry up to 9 squadrons of aircraft, including fighter jets, helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft.
Like the Ford aircraft carrier, the Eisenhower is accompanied by other ships, such as the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and the guided missile destroyers USS Gridley and USS Mason.
US attacks on Iraq and Syria: response heavy-handed and limited in effectiveness
Rising Trend: Lebanon and Yemen Fronts
However, since October 8, Hezbollah’s activities in southern Lebanon have begun to increase, targeting Israeli military locations and observation points along the border, which stretches approximately 140 kilometers.
Hezbollah said it carried out nearly 700 attacks against Israeli targets in the first three months of the confrontation, including 48 Israeli military bases and points, and targeted 17 settlements along the border, which stretches from Ras Naqura extends to the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to the east, with a total length of 140 kilometers.
On the other hand, the Yemeni “Ansar Allah” organization (Houthi armed forces) announced its participation in the conflict with the purpose of forcing an end to the aggression in the Gaza Strip. The attacks announced by Yemeni armed forces affiliated with the Houthis include a bombing campaign using ballistic missiles, mobile missiles and drones in the southern part of the Israeli-occupied country.
The movement announced a ban on Israeli ships passing through the Bab el-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, and launched attacks on Israeli ships using naval drones and missiles, with at least one ship seized.
On December 9, it was announced that if the medicines and food needed by the Gaza Strip cannot enter, all ships from various countries entering and leaving Israeli ports will be banned.
The attacks by the Houthi armed forces have resulted in maritime blockades similar to those in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea. Major shipping companies such as Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, Italy’s MSC, and France’s CMA-CGM have stopped shipping ships in the Red Sea.
And some companies, such as Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, have announced additional fees for shipments to and from the Middle East, prompting the United States to build an international coalition to try to stop the Houthis.
Ansar Allah has directly targeted U.S. warships in the Red Sea at least eight times, although all attacks were intercepted.
Nearly half of the attacks were carried out using drones, while others used missiles.
On January 12, the United States and the United Kingdom launched attacks on targets in areas controlled by the Ansar Allah movement in Yemen as the beginning of a series of subsequent operations.
US attacks on Iraq and Syria: response heavy-handed and limited in effectiveness
Two fires from Iraq and Syria
On the Iraqi and Syrian fronts, on October 21, 2023, the “Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement” announced attacks on U.S. military bases in Syria and Iraq with missiles and drones in response to the U.S.-supported Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Data released by both sides show that in the past four months, the Axis of Resistance has carried out more than 200 attacks and attempted attacks against the United States and international coalition forces throughout the Middle East, a 20-fold increase from the previous four months. Only around 30 similar incidents had been reported in the area in the 12 months before the incident on October 7 last year.
The scenario contradicted U.S. desires to prevent escalation in the region, ultimately prompting the Biden administration to announce a series of attacks against Ansar Allah in Yemen and Islamic resistance groups in Iraq and Syria.
Following an attack on a Jordan base that killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded nearly 40 others, the U.S. announced it would directly strike at pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria and home to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Biden said the administration blamed for supporting and managing those groups.
On February 2, the United States launched 85 attacks in Iraq and Syria, seven of which targeted the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated militias.
The attacks avoided Iranian territory but focused on the “Iran Corridor” in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province. It includes the area surrounding the provincial capital as well as the desert area of Al-Mayadeen.
The United States said the counterattack at midnight on February 3 was the beginning of its response to multiple attacks.
The United States has significantly increased its military activity in the Middle East over the past four months, including retaliatory airstrikes targeting members of the Axis of Resistance in more than 60 incidents since October 7.
The U.S. military command in the Middle East (Centcom) said the attack on Kataib Hezbollah targeted “the headquarters as well as storage and training sites for missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and explosive drones.”
In Iraq, the United States has targeted the Nujaba Front and Kataib Hezbollah, which it accuses of being behind most of the recent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
In Syria, attacks have targeted armed groups loyal to Iran, the Syrian army, Revolutionary Guard positions and the Fatimid Brigades.
Official statistics put the total death toll from these strikes at 18.
US attacks on Iraq and Syria: response heavy-handed and limited in effectiveness
U.S. attack targets
The security situation in the region has been fragile since October 7 last year, and the United States has sought to deter these organizations through strikes.
The Biden administration also placed the attacks in the context of pressure on its forces and the international coalition to leave Iraq following a decision by Iraq’s National Assembly.
The Biden administration is taking into account the approach of the U.S. election and its desire to restore calm to the region before the election.
The United States is also concerned that the “Axis of Resistance” will play a greater role and target the Israeli occupying power more directly, given the continued aggression against Gaza and the potential for escalation in southern Lebanon.
Staying clear of Iran’s caution
President Joe Biden accused Iranian-backed militias of being behind the attack, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the drone that carried out the attack was Iranian-made.
The United States has tried to avoid direct strikes on Iranian territory as part of retaliatory attacks in Iraq and Syria, and has been reluctant to directly blame Tehran for the attacks on Jordan’s Tanf base and Tower 22.
This is in line with the United States’ declared policy of avoiding major regional escalations. “We have no intention of escalating conflict in the region, but we are fully prepared to take further steps to protect our personnel and facilities,” Austin said in a statement.
On the other hand, Iran declared a state of high alert and deployed defense systems on its border with Iraq to respond to any possible attack by the United States.
It also called on armed groups associated with it to disappear and evacuate their positions, and directed Iranian military commanders and advisers to leave their positions in Iraq and Syria to avoid becoming targets of U.S. or Israeli attacks.
The nearly week-long delay in the U.S. response also demonstrates the U.S. desire to avoid large casualties from armed groups and their affiliated sites, as the delayed response gives these groups enough time to evacuate the scene and take necessary precautions to avoid heavy losses.
US attacks on Iraq and Syria: response heavy-handed and limited in effectiveness
reaction
On the other hand, last Saturday, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly” condemned the US military attacks on Iraq and Syria and considered it a “strategic mistake” that exacerbated tension and instability in the region.
According to Iran’s Mahr News Agency, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement that we “strongly condemn the US military attacks in Iraq and Syria.”
Kanani believes that “these attacks violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, as well as international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
He continued: “Last night’s attack in Syria is in addition to America’s full support for Israel’s four-month brutal and ongoing repression of residents of Gaza and the West Bank, as well as its military assault on Yemen and violations of that country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The actions on the US and Iraq issues are new strategic adventures and mistakes by the US government, which have aggravated tensions and regional instability.”
“Syria condemns this blatant violation by the United States and categorically rejects all excuses and lies promoted by the U.S. government to justify this attack,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Iraqi Armed Forces spokesman Yahya Rassoul responded in a statement on Saturday, saying, “These attacks are considered a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and constitute a threat to Iraq and the region. The threat of consequences, the consequences of which will have serious consequences for the security and stability of Iraq and the region.”
Hamas condemns
On the other hand, on Saturday, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) condemned the US attacks on Iraq and Syria, considering it a “dangerous escalation and an attack on the sovereignty of the two Arab countries.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms the US aggression against Iraq and Syria and consider it a dangerous escalation that violates the sovereignty of the two Arab countries and threatens their security and the region,” the movement said in a statement. of stability.”
It added that the attack “was carried out to serve the expansionist agenda of the Israeli occupation and to cover up its horrific crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”.
At the level of armed groups, Iraq’s Hezbollah Kataib announced that it would “temporarily” suspend military and security operations against US troops in order to prevent the Iraqi government from being embarrassed after an attack on the Jordanian border that resulted in the death of an American.
The group announced the attack shortly before the U.S. attack, signaling Iran’s desire to reduce escalation and avoid a broad U.S. response.
US attacks on Iraq and Syria: response heavy-handed and limited in effectiveness
After the US military attack
The U.S. strikes against armed group positions in Syria and Iraq are disciplined and planned to avoid further escalation. This could prompt these groups to continue targeting U.S. locations and potentially expand their attacks to include Israeli targets.
Following the U.S. attack, the Islamic resistance movement in Iraq and Syria announced attacks on Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province and Harir air base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
A U.S. base in the Koniko gas field east of Deir ez-Zor province in northeastern Syria was also hit by missiles.
The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Organization has promised to respond to US attacks on its positions and civilian sites in Iraq.
At the same time, the Nujaba movement, one of the most active Iraqi factions against American targets, announced that it “will not suspend attacks on Americans and will respond to any attacks by Americans.”
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2024-02-06 15:31:01
