Pentagon Details Results of U.S. Strikes in Iraq, Yemen

The U.S. attack took place in eastern Baghdad, in an area described by al-Jazeera as “a stronghold for armed factions.”

Laurie Mylroie 2024/02/09 14:05

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder briefs the news media at the Pentagon. (Photo: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander Kubitza)

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Addressing reporters on Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided details of the retaliatory attacks that the U.S. undertook in Iraq on Wednesday and in Yemen on Saturday.

Notably, although the conflict is basically one between the U,S. and Iran, which is acting through its proxies, the U.S. has yet to strike any Iranian targets, as critics have complained. Their position is that only a serious strike on Iran will serve as deterrence and end the attacks.

That position is quite similar to that of the Iraqi government, which has repeatedly complained that the U.S. and Iran should not be carrying out their conflict on Iraqi territory.

Attacks in Iraq

Citing a CENTCOM statement, Ryder explained that on Wednesday evening, at 9:30 p.m., U.S. forces “conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S; service members.”

“A Kata’ib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces” was killed in that strike, he said.

Already in July 2009, under President George W. Bush, when U.S. troops were still in Iraq as part of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, Washington identified Kata’ib Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The group was involved then—some 15 years ago—in attacking U.S. troops—and it is doing so now. U.S. officials have attributed the Jan. 28 attack that killed three U.S. soldiers in northeast Jordan to Kata’ib Hezbollah.

In addition, on Monday, six soldiers from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s main partner in fighting ISIS in Syria, were killed in a drone attack.

The U.S. media has reported that the assassinated commander was in charge of Kata’ib Hezbollah operations in Syria.

Wissam Mohammed Sabir al-Saadi was his name, as Ryder explained, although he went by the nom de guerre, Abu Baqir al-Saadi.

Kata’ib Hezbollah had announced his death, along with that of another senior figure, Arkan al-Elayawi, already on Wednesday night. But Ryder insisted that only Saadi had been killed.

“We have high confidence that that was the case,” Ryder said.

The Tigris River divides Baghdad between an eastern bank, which is predominantly Shi’ite and tends to be poor, and a wealthier, western bank, which, historically, was predominantly Sunni.

The U.S. attack took place on the east bank, in an area described by al-Jazeera as “a stronghold for armed factions.”

A drone fired by U.S. Special Operations Forces struck an automobile in which Saadi was riding, setting it ablaze, and killing him.

That attack followed a major U.S. assault on Saturday on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. It was retaliation for the deaths of the three American soldiers. Until then, the Biden administration had settled for tit for tat exchanges with the militias. It seemed to think that was enough, but the death of the U.S. troops has prompted a stronger response.

Attacks in Yemen

Another Iranian-backed group, the Houthis in Yemen, has been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Going back to Jan. 11, the U.S. and U.K. have conducted three joint attacks against Houthi targets, while the U.S. has conducted numerous unilateral strikes.

The most recent strike occurred on Thursday, as CENTCOM announced in a tweet. Over the day—between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m., Sanaa time—CENTCOM forces “conducted seven self-defense strikes against four Houthi unmanned surface vessels (USV) and seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” it said.

Feb. 8 Summary of USCENTCOM Self-Defense Strikes in Yemen

On Feb. 8, between the hours of 5 a.m. – 9 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted seven self-defense strikes against four Houthi unmanned surface vessels (USV) and seven mobile anti-ship cruise… pic.twitter.com/5qKArWfj7G
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 9, 2024

That strike followed two Houthi attacks on commercial ships on Tuesday, one of which was actually hit. In Thursday’s briefing, Ryder corrected an omission in his previous briefing, on Monday, when he said that U.S. strikes against Houthi targets would be undertaken only to defend U.S. forces.

That seemed to suggest there would be no U.S. response to Houthi attacks on commercial shipping—although protecting that shipping is the core mission of U.S. naval forces in the region, and, possibly, it invited Tuesday’s strikes.

Thus, on Thursday, Ryder affirmed, “We will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s vital waterways.”

Summarizing the effect of the strikes on Houthi targets since Jan. 11, Ryder explained, “We assess that we’ve destroyed or degraded more than 100 missiles and launchers, including anti-ship land attack and surface to air missiles, plus numerous communication capabilities.”

However, as journalists and others have asked, what is the U.S. actually accomplishing, as all that equipment is supplied by Iran and can be replaced by Iran?

As Behnam Ben Taleblu, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, advised Kurdistan 24, “The U.S. aim in Yemen is to merely degrade Houthi capabilities over time in the hopes of changing their risk-reward calculus.”

“This omits the supply side problem of a steady stream of weapons Iran can proliferate to the group, as well as the Houthi capability and intent to run the clock on the US mission in the region,” he said.

U.S. Needs to Strike Iran to Deter Further Attacks

That is the position of Brig. Gen. Ernest Audino (US Army, Retired) who, in speaking with Kurdistan 24, emphasized the need for the U.S. to take “decisive action” against Iran.

Amb. John Bolton, National Security Adviser under Donald Trump and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, last month told Kurdistan 24 much the same.

Writing this week in The Washington Post, Bolton charged that the Biden administration had too many competing priorities in the Middle East: a multitude of “wrongheaded, confused and contradictory strategic objectives colliding and gridlocking.”

“Washington needs not just aspirations, but priorities and concrete strategies to realize them,” Bolton continued. “The real worry should not be ‘wider war,’ but the cause of the current one, which is unmistakably Iran.”