Ok, Mr. Mullah, you attack US forces in Syria or Iraq or anywhere one more time, and we're going to destroy another of your warehouses. Then you'll be sorry. This, it seems, is the Biden administration's strategy to deal with Iran and its proxies – to strategically deprive them of storage space. The insidiously genius and subtle approach to deterring Tehran from attacking US military bases and outposts in the region has caught Iran totally by surprise. Undeterred, however, they just keep sending drones and rockets to try to destroy US bases. The number one sponsor of global terrorism doesn't realize that, one morning, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will wake and find Iran is fresh out of warehouses.
Iran Continues Attacks on US Forces With Proxy Puppets
Iran proxies started their air attacks on US military sites in Syria and Iraq after Hamas terrorists struck Israel. The number of Iran-backed attacks varies from 40 to 69 between October 18 and November 10, depending on whether the information came from Islamic Resistance in Iraq War Media or US sources. A Business Insider report explained: "A Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday that since October 17, there have been 40 total attacks on US forces stationed in Iraq and Syria. Independent analyses from various think tanks, including the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Institute for the Study of War, peg the figure slightly higher…"
Despite having moved two carrier strike groups and numerous other US warships in the Gulf region, the paltry responses by the Biden administration have done nothing but encourage the Iranian-backed enemies to hit us more frequently. Media reports claim 46 American military personnel have been injured by the Iranian-sponsored militants' drone and rocket air attacks. The US has responded twice, hitting warehouses both times. Two US F-15 fighters hit one of the Iran-supported munitions facilities in the most recent Biden administration response.
Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former Defense Department official, told The Washington Times:
"Iran has concluded that they can get away with murder. They do not believe Biden has the wherewithal to do anything significant, whatever the provocation. So, expect Americans to come home in body bags. Indeed, [Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] believes that he can force the US to 'pull an Afghanistan' and withdraw completely from the region. Weakness is provocative, and so the US should expect further escalation from Iran and its proxies."
Most recently, Yemen's Houthi terrorist rebels shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Red Sea in international waters. "(W)e are certainly concerned about the fact that the Yemenis shut down an MQ-9, and we'll continue to have conversations about that as we go forward. It wasn't the Yemenis; it was the Houthis from Yemen. So please let me correct that," a senior military official told Jennifer Griffin of Fox News during a Pentagon press briefing. Americans take great solace in knowing when terrorists shoot down our aircraft, the US military will have conversations.
The Houthis weren't confused about who shot down the American aircraft over international waters. According to a Voice of America report, "The Iranian-backed Houthis reported the downing in a statement earlier Wednesday (November 8). 'Our air defenses were able to down an American MQ-9 while it was carrying out hostile surveillance and espionage activities in Yemeni territorial waters as part of American military support for Israel,' the group said."
Houthi Terrorists Use Ballistic Missiles Against Israel
Additionally, the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile attack on the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday, November 9. The missiles were intercepted successfully by the Israel Defense Force's Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system, the IDF and Israeli Defense Ministry said in a joint statement. Still, the US Department of Defense continues to hold to the fiction that any attacks on Iran-backed proxies from the US are defending American military forces and not engaging in air strikes tied to the Israel-Hamas war.
"We are responding to a number of attacks against our forces, and these are defensive strikes. They are not connected to what Israel is doing in its efforts against Hamas. So, in terms of deterrence overall, our goal is to make sure that the conflict that's in Gaza doesn't expand and become a region-wide conflict," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III told reporters during an off-camera, on-the-record press opportunity while enroute to India. First, Mr. Secretary, Houthi terrorist rebels backed by Iran shooting down a US drone aircraft is an expansion into a "region-wide" conflict. Second, if you don't think attacks on US military forces are part of the government of Iran responding to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza through surrogates, you're the only one. Iran's proxies and everyone else do. Could Biden's defense secretary look more naïve?
To use a Pinocchio metaphor, if Iran is the proxy puppet master, the US cannot cut a string here and a string there to stave off the marionettes' malicious behavior. The US should break a finger to persuade the marionette master to behave. If losing a finger doesn't work, go for a hand. Eventually, the puppet manipulator will get the message or have a lot of broken appendages. US forces under attack in the region will appreciate the gesture, if nothing else. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin said on the Evening Edition podcast the US Combatant Command for the Middle East, US Central Command, is frustrated with the limited US responses, and at US bases and outposts in Syria and Iraq, the defenders feel like "sitting ducks."
Being on the defensive has not worked for the Biden administration. While trying not to escalate the Gaza conflict, tepid, feckless air strikes are doing precisely that. At a minimum, the US could consider putting Houthi terrorists back on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
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