This backgrounder at PBS Newshour summarizes the situation with respect to the U. S. offensive against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen as of yesterday:
The United States and Britain have struck Iran-backed armed groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, while Israel presses ahead with its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
Here is what to know about what is happening in the region now, and why…
As of today via Sky News the militias are responding:
A drone attack apparently carried out by the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance group overnight has killed six Kurdish commandos from the Syrian Democratic Forces who were stationed at an American base in eastern Syria, the SDF has said.
The SDF is composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac members.
Fourteen people were injured.
“The number [of deaths] is likely to rise due to serious injuries,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The base, near al Omar oil field, was targeted with a drone, as part of the “Revenge for Gaza” campaign, it added.
Attacks against shipping in the Red Sea in the last three weeks are also greater than they were three weeks ago.
I continue to wonder what the objectives of our military responses are. If they are to deter attacks by these militias, clearly they are not effective yet. Do we have reason to believe that more U. S. attacks will be more effective? I have no idea.
It’s unlikely we deter the Houthis. They have been fighting with SA for a long time. We arent going to hit them hard and have them say they will quit because we just killed 500 people. We should be aiming at decreasing their capabilities and also their ability to resupply.
Steve
Hard to say, but I think the goal is a shot across the bow to the Iranians to put a leash on their dogs.
Telegraphing our punch so long and so obviously gave the Iranians plenty of time to ensure their personnel would not be killed. The use of just a couple of bombers launched from the US to destroy the infrastructure of a couple of bases demonstrated to Iran that the US can bring a lot of destruction without relying on assets in theater. Jordanian aircraft participation in the strikes signalled their displeasure that Iranian proxied attacked and killed US troops that were actually on Jordanian soil.
Will the message be heard and change Iran’s behavior is another question.
Whether Iran actually has any influence over its proxies is yet another question.
The Middle East has been in a turbulent transition to democracy since 2010 when President Obama inspired them to fight for freedom, known historically as the Arab Spring.
Using the military might that the President has at his discretion, he toppled the brutal government of Libya, whose people still debate the form of government that they are now free to choose.
In the immortal words of George W. Bush,
“Freedom is messy “. Truer words have never been uttered and in the same way as a gardener who has prepared the garden and planted the seeds, it’s now time for the benevolent West to step aside and let the garden of freedom grow.