US Now Targeting Iran Proxies-Maybe

[Kathianne]

Initially it was being reported that US was attacking Syrian targets in retaliation for the drone killings in Jordan, but now it is unclear that they were US. Jennifer Griffin is now reporting they are NOT US strikes.

[Kathianne]

Nothing changes:

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/02/02/guess-what-happened-after-biden-gave-iran-a-preview-of-its-retaliation-plans-n4926059


Guess What Happened After Biden Gave Iran a Preview of Its Retaliation Plans?MATT MARGOLIS | 10:49 AM ON FEBRUARY 02, 2024



AP Photo/Adam Bettcher
Last week, three American troops were killed in an Iranian-backed drone strike in Jordan. It was a damning indictment of Joe Biden’s record of appeasing Iran, which dates back to his time as vice president.


Biden has been talking tough with Iran for many, many weeks, and Iran has repeatedly proven that it is not deterred by his words. But the moment troops were killed, Biden was suddenly under pressure to respond with more than just idle threats. And he did promise a response.


And then promptly broadcast those plans to Iran.


Sources within the administration leaked the details of potential moves by the administration to Politico.


"Within the administration, top aides are trying to thread a needle,” Jonathan Lemire and Alexander Ward of Politico reported Monday night. "Biden is ordering his advisers to present a range of U.S. response options that would forcefully deter other attacks while also not further inflaming a smoldering region, according to two officials granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about private deliberations."


For our VIPs: Joe Biden Has Even More Blood on His Hands


According to the report, "Among the options on the table for the Pentagon: striking Iranian personnel in Syria or Iraq or Iranian naval assets in the Persian Gulf, according to the officials. The Iranian government, for its part, has suggested that a strike on Iran itself would be a red line. The officials suggested that, once the president gave the go-ahead, the retaliation would likely begin in the next couple of days and come in waves against a range of targets."


The administration subsequently leaked which targets had been approved.


The only thing Biden didn't do was ask the Iranian mullahs for permission to drop a few bombs—though perhaps they did and were wise enough to keep that under wraps.


It was clear that despite Biden's public front about retaliation, his administration was never serious about retaliating or creating an effective deterrence—otherwise, they wouldn't have broadcast to the world what the potential targets were.


And naturally, Iran saw the ol' "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" from Biden and responded accordingly.


According to Fox News' chief national security correspondent at the Pentagon, Jennifer Griffin, IRGC commanders in the target areas have left and gone into hiding.




Of course, it's quite obvious that the Biden administration never wanted the "element of surprise" at all. Biden has simply been continuing the Obama-era policy of appeasement. Griffin shared a story about Haj Askar, the top commander of the IRGC militia in Syria, who has already fled to Iran in anticipation of U.S. airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed militia locations in the country.




This has played out exactly as expected and exactly as Biden wanted. Iran got the notice it needed to allow Biden to appear to respond to the deaths of three U.S. troops without any meaningful consequences to Iran.

[Kathianne]

Initially it was being reported that US was attacking Syrian targets in retaliation for the drone killings in Jordan, but now it is unclear that they were US. Jennifer Griffin is now reporting they are NOT US strikes.
Now reporting that US strikes in Syria and Iraq are now occurring.

[Gunny]

Now reporting that US strikes in Syria and Iraq are now occurring.The more I read/heard on this, the more my eyes rolled. The MSM praising Biden for walking some delicate tightrope so as to not escalate regional tensions is a joke as much as allowing Iran to draw the red line in the sand.

Screw Iran. Fact is, who in the region is not in some form of war (whatever the label of the day for it is) and which ones do not have Iran involved by one mean or another? Common denominator.

[Kathianne]

The more I read/heard on this, the more my eyes rolled. The MSM praising Biden for walking some delicate tightrope so as to not escalate regional tensions is a joke as much as allowing Iran to draw the red line in the sand.

Screw Iran. Fact is, who in the region is not in some form of war (whatever the label of the day for it is) and which ones do not have Iran involved by one mean or another? Common denominator.

These are the times I do like FOX. Their military consultants are speaking to both sides-those that argue against 'WWIII' and those that say the only was to prevent such, is to hit Iranian leadership hard, within or without Iran. The later of course are whom I agree with, sorry Rev.

Biden sent B52s across the globe to turn sand to glass, totally unnecessary. Sites were evacuated after 48 hour warnings.

[revelarts]

OK serious question.
What where our troops doing in Jordan exactly?

[OAK]

OK serious question.
What where our troops doing in Jordan exactly?Why does that matter?

[revelarts]

Why does that matter?

Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't.

Were the U.S. soldiers the target of the Yemenis?
Did the Yemenis know U.S. mil were there?
Were the soldiers doing something against or helping attack the Yemenis?

So again,
OK serious question.
What were our troops doing in Jordan exactly?

I'm sure... whatever it was... it was perfectly innocent or at least completely justified and should not be questioned, because it's the U.S. military... but i'd like to know.


My default position is that we're not at war and should not have our troops in foreign war zones where there's real possibility of harm to our troops.

[Gunny]

Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't.

Were the U.S. soldiers the target of the Yemenis?
Did the Yemenis know U.S. mil were there?
Were the soldiers doing something against or helping attack the Yemenis?

So again,
OK serious question.
What were our troops doing in Jordan exactly?

I'm sure... whatever it was... it was perfectly innocent or at least completely justified and should not be questioned, because it's the U.S. military... but i'd like to know.


My default position is that we're not at war and should not have our troops in foreign war zones where there's real possibility of harm to our troops.ISIS.

US Embassy.

[Gunny]

There are no plans to move troops out of Jordan, a Pentagon spokeswoman told reporters Monday, and U.S. Central Command continues to investigate how an Iran-backed militia’s drone was able to evade detection (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/01/28/three-us-troops-killed-25-injured-in-drone-attack-on-base-in-jordan/) and detonate above a housing building at Tower 22 (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/01/29/what-is-tower-22-the-base-in-jordan-where-3-us-troops-were-killed/), killing three U.S. soldiers (https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/01/29/pentagon-ids-army-reserve-soldiers-killed-in-jordan-tower-22-attack/) and wounding dozens more on Jan. 28.
While troops are more than likely to stay put at the remote outpost on the Syrian border, officials are mulling options for upgrading air defenses at Tower 22 and other small outposts across the Middle East.

“I’m not going to go into those conversations, or what changing our posture looks like, but that’s absolutely something that is being discussed,” spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told Military Times.
Singh did not say whether some of those changes could take place before CENTCOM has finished its review, as attacks continue (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/02/05/iran-backed-attacks-in-middle-east-continue-after-dozens-of-us-strikes/).
In the weeks following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and amid the bombing campaign Israel launched in retaliation on Gaza, the U.S. moved thousands of troops (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/10/23/us-troops-in-middle-east-brace-for-significant-escalation-of-attacks/), some ground and some on ship, to the region, in hopes of preventing other groups from stirring up more conflict.


Those mobilizations included a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery (https://www.defensenews.com/land/2022/01/21/thaad-in-first-operational-use-destroys-midrange-ballistic-missile-in-houthi-attack/) and multiple Patriot missile air defense battalions to shoot down drones and missiles.
For much of the past six months, those air defenses have been successful, preventing a “majority” of the 168 attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and now Jordan, Singh said.
That includes 67 in Iraq, 100 in Syria and one in Jordan, with more than 80 U.S. injuries among them.
“Not that we don’t take those seriously,” she added. “We absolutely do. But the impact of those [attacks] on our bases have not been significant until what happened at Tower 22.”

Early unconfirmed reports have suggested that the drone was confused for a friendly aerial vehicle that had been due to return around the same time, in the early morning hours of Jan. 28.

Or it may have been an issue of Tower 22′s air defenses. The Washington Post reported Tuesday (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/06/drone-jordan-attack/) that the base only had electronic-jamming equipment that missed the drone because it was flying too low.
Pentagon officials have declined to comment on either theory, citing CENTCOM’s ongoing investigation into the attack.
Increasing security measures could be the most feasible option for protecting troops in the Middle East for now, as thousands remain deployed and teamed with local forces as part of a mission to prevent the resurgence of the Islamist terrorist group ISIS.
“Across Iraq and Syria and Jordan, the mission of these service members is the defeat-ISIS mission,” Singh said. “So moving our troops and our service members into different areas takes away from the mission.”

After Jordan attack, Pentagon weighs options to bolster base security (militarytimes.com) (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/02/06/after-jordan-attack-pentagon-weighs-options-to-bolster-base-security/)