According to the Washington Post, the US is considering military action against Iranian-backed groups who attacked American forces in Iraq and Syria, citing anonymous officials.
Biden is under pressure from Republicans to respond to attacks on American forces in Iraq and Syria, according to the same newspaper.
Republicans in Congress urge Biden to respond to attacks in the Middle East as the US strengthens combat power and defense equipment.
According to the American Al Hurra station, retired General Joseph Votel has recently joined the list of those demanding a response. As the former head of the US Central Command in the region, he had a direct view of Iran’s support for militias throughout the Middle East.
Votel stated during an online panel discussion that the United States unfortunately allowed the attacks to become normalized by not uniformly responding to them.
He continued, “I believe we have reached a point where we can and should do it.”
With the deployment of additional military assets to the region, we must respond more directly to the threats against our forces.
Biden issued a direct warning to Iran’s leader, Ali Khamenei, threatening a response if American forces were attacked.
Biden warned Khamenei that the US will respond if they continue to attack US forces and emphasized that this has nothing to do with Israel.
Over the past week, American forces in Iraq and Syria were targeted by missiles and drones, resulting in minor casualties, according to the US military.
US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria were attacked 13 times last week with drones and missiles, according to the Pentagon.
According to a defense official who spoke to the Washington Post, there was another attack on Wednesday in northeastern Syria. Three missiles were fired towards an American site, and one of them landed inside it. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported so far.
Several armed factions close to Iran threatened to attack American interests against the backdrop of Washington’s support for Israel since the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, which left more than 1,400 dead in Israel.
As part of its efforts to combat ISIS, the United States has deployed about 900 soldiers in Syria and 2,500 soldiers in Iraq. The terrorist group once controlled large territories in these two countries but was eventually defeated by local forces with the support of air strikes carried out by an international coalition led by Washington.
Iran is testing the US for weaknesses with recent proxy attacks, says Bradley Bowman, senior director at the Center for Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
He said, “Iran has nothing to lose as the US seeks to avoid a large-scale regional war.”
Bowman proposed that one reasonable approach could be to launch air strikes against militias in Syria only. The aim of this strategy would be to prevent Iranian officials from inciting Iraq’s internal politics against the United States.
He stated that the objective of countering such attacks was to prevent minor issues from escalating. He emphasized that it was unacceptable to allow assaults on their forces without consequences.
