The US on Friday launched what must be one of the most advertised military attacks against an enemy in history, with what the Pentagon said were air strikes on seven facilities run by Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq.
US officials have been broadcasting for days that strikes would be coming after the weekend drone attack that killed three Americans at a US base in Jordan. Biden Administration officials signalled that the strikes were likely to be against the militias and not against Iran. Leaks to the media even suggested the US was waiting for the skies to be clearer in the Middle East.
Militia leaders can’t say they weren’t warned, and if any of them were still around the target areas they are the world’s dumbest terrorists. US officials said the strikes hit 85 targets that included command and control centres, and storage facilities for rockets and missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers are likely to have vamoosed.
At least the Administration has signalled that the US strikes could last for days or longer. “They have a lot of capability. I have a lot more,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday. The question is whether the US will use enough of that capability to finally send a message of deterrence that sinks in.
The weak US retaliatory strikes haven’t worked so far, despite more than 160 enemy attacks on U.S. bases or ships since mid-October. The multiple U.S. warnings this week send a message that the US doesn’t want to do too much damage to the militias, who might consider that another sign that the US fears escalation. The attacks on Americans are likely to end only when the enemy fears escalation more than President Biden does.
The real test will be whether these strikes, and covert US actions such as cyber attacks, will deter Iran. The rulers in Tehran are the terror masters behind these militias, and so far they have paid no price for helping to kill Americans.
The White House has used its Boswells at the Washington Post and New York Times to suggest that President Biden is the wise voice of restraint in contrast to war-hungry Members of Congress. But that restraint has resulted in three dead and many wounded Americans, and this week a Houthi missile narrowly missed a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea.
There’s a time for restraint, and a time for using enough force against the right targets so that US troops are no longer fodder for enemy target practice.
The Wall Street Journal
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