The New York Times reported, citing U.S. and Iranian officials, that Iran has increased its military capacity in Iraq and Syria after the U.S. military carried out full-scale airstrikes in late January in retaliation for the killing of three soldiers. Pressured proxy militias to stop attacking U.S. forces.
Since the Feb. 2 wave of U.S. bombings and the Feb. 7 assassination of a top terrorist leader, Iranian-backed extremist groups have launched dozens of rockets, missiles, and drones at U.S. military bases. Only twice did he stop a target attack. Small incident in Syria, NYT reportsaid a US official. Iran had released its proxies to protest U.S. support for Israel, which is at war with the terrorist group Hamas, but an escalation in militia attacks could draw Iran into an all-out war with the United States. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was growing concern that this could happen. Discuss intelligence activities.
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, former commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), told the NYT that U.S. retaliation “could be having some impact.” “The question is whether militias are attacking, but at least at this moment they are not,” he added.
As of Feb. 22, there had been no additional attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since Feb. 4, according to Sabrina Singh, deputy spokeswoman for the Pentagon. Said At the briefing session. By then, the insurgents had attacked bases in Iraq and Syria at least 170 times.
The New York Times reported that concerns that a retaliatory response to the attack would cause the regional conflict to escalate into full-scale war have faded. On January 28, the only attack on a US outpost in Jordan injured dozens of soldiers and killed three US Army reservists from Georgia, CENTCOM announced. Saidsparking the first major retaliation by the United States since the attacks began in October.
The National Security Council and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
According to the NYT, Iran trains, funds, and arms dozens of quasi-political and extremist groups across the Middle East. The main proxies for attacks in Iraq and Syria are Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, colluding with other groups under the banner of the Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement.
The Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its affiliated militias continue to pose a direct threat to Iraq, regional stability, and the safety of the American people. We will continue to take action and do whatever it takes to protect our people. pic.twitter.com/Y53nvRfjjx
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 3, 2024
Brigadier General Esmail Ghani heads the Quds Force, an elite force of Iranian militias responsible for coordinating with Tehran's proxy network. He also played a role in shaping Iran's response to Israel and the United States in connection with the Gaza war, the NYT reported.
In January, Ghani organized multiple emergency meetings in Tehran and Baghdad with strategists, senior militias and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leaders to plan to avoid war with the US, NYT reported. reported the story of two Iranians who are members of the Revolutionary Guards.
According to the NYT, on the Iranian side, Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba initially resisted President Ghani's request to halt attacks on U.S. forces because it was a necessary expression of Islamist ideology. said. It took the intervention of Tehran and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammen al-Sudani to convince them to cancel.
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