As of February 7, there have been more than 168 attacks on US forces (Representational)
Washington:
More than a month before a deadly drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to reassure U.S. troops about the military's ability to withstand attacks from Iran-backed rebels .
Austin said in previously unpublished remarks to sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford on December 20 that the main reason the group had failed to that point was that “they're not very good at what they do.”
“Every day, Iranian allies fire on our troops in Iraq and Syria. They have not been effective at all for two reasons: First, they are not very good at what they do,” Austin said. the crew.
“But number two, we've done a lot of things to make sure we have adequate troop protection… Ultimately, as we all know, one day they might get lucky and injure one of our troops. But we will stay. on the balls of our feet and make sure that doesn't happen.”
In the wake of the drone strike, President Joe Biden's administration is vowing to do whatever it takes to protect U.S. troops from an escalating cycle of violence in the Middle East, where Iran-aligned rebels are firing on them in Iraq , Syria, Jordan and other countries. off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea.
But current and former U.S. officials told Reuters that the rebels' periodic success in attacks may be inevitable, given the enormous number of drones, rockets and missiles fired at U.S. forces and the fact that base defenses cannot realistically be fully deployed 100% of the time can be effective.
Experts also warn against underestimating Iran-backed operatives, even if most of their attacks fail.
Charles Lister of the Washington-based Middle East Institute recalled former President Barack Obama's description of Islamic State as a junior varsity team in 2014, even as the group was gaining strength.
“To suggest, Obama-style, that 'well, they're just a JV team' and that we can grin and roll with the punches and know that nothing serious will happen is just extremely naive,” Lister said. “These groups have conducted sophisticated transnational attacks and they have a very deadly history against U.S. forces.”
Yet American commanders have a long history of putting on a brave face in front of their troops. Austin is a retired four-star general who served on the ground in Iraq and came under fire himself.
Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Austin was outraged and deeply saddened by the deaths of the soldiers in Jordan and had “no higher priority than protecting our armed forces and taking care of our people.”
Tragic but unpredictable
As of February 7, there have been more than 168 attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since tensions in the Middle East soared in October with the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. That led to injuries among 143 U.S. service members, with two suffering very serious injuries and nine sustaining serious injuries.
The worst attack occurred on January 28, when a drone struck a US base called Tower 22 on Jordan's border with Syria, killing Sergeant William Jerome Rivers, Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett.
A senior US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called that attack “tragic, unfortunate – but predictable.”
“Because that's the nature of fighting. It is not an antiseptic environment in which you can achieve perfection” in defending yourself, the former official said.
Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the head of the U.S. National Guard, who had wounded troops stationed at Tower 22, told reporters Thursday that the military is working hard to ensure troops have defense mechanisms to reduce the risk.
“Unfortunately, no system is 100% successful at anything,” Hokanson said.
Not a sophisticated strike
As a U.S. military investigation continues, U.S. officials told Reuters that several factors may have contributed to the failure of U.S. defenses at the remote base in Jordan.
Most striking, they said, was the low altitude at which the drone flew as it approached Tower 22.
But officials say it does not appear the rebels did anything particularly sophisticated that Sunday morning, such as deliberately timing the drone approach to coincide with the arrival of a U.S. drone to confuse U.S. defenses.
Instead, some U.S. officials have concluded that the success of the Jan. 28 attack was down to probability: Throw enough munitions at well-defended targets and eventually some will get through.
The attack – which the Pentagon says had the “footprints” of the Iraq-based Kataib Hezbollah – has sparked a wave of US retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria, linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and militias they support. This includes a drone strike in Baghdad on Wednesday that killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander.
Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters that the U.S. military “continues to take necessary steps to protect our forces at risk and is continually reevaluating our force protection measures.” He did not provide details on any adjustments to U.S. defense, citing operational security.
Critics of the Biden administration's approach warn that the retaliatory strikes are not putting enough pressure on Tehran, which is backing these groups and, according to some current and former officials, could instruct them to stop. Some Republicans in Congress have pushed for U.S. strikes on Iranian forces, including on Iranian soil, which the Biden administration has opposed for fear of drawing Iran directly into a broader war.
“Iran can stop these attacks if they want to,” the former US military official said.
But the official added: “Why would they? They are not hurt by our response.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
