Militia Attacks Against US Forces Continue—But is Iran the Real Problem?
Critics have told Kurdistan 24 that the basic problem is Iran—and until it is held accountable for the actions of its proxies, the attacks will continue.
Nov. 24, 2024
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) The U.S. Defense Department provided updated statistics on Friday on the attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria over the past year—since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel.
The number of attacks on U.S. forces is down. However, militia attacks on Israel have increased, threatening to drag Iraq into that conflict—against the will of the government in Baghdad.
Read More: Iraqi FM Fuad Hussein at MEPS24: "Iraq seeks peace amid regional tensions"
Critics have told Kurdistan 24 that the basic problem is really Iran—and until Iran is truly held accountable for the actions of its proxies, the attacks will continue.
Indeed, that is how Americans used to understand major acts of terrorism. If an attack was on a large scale, it was probably state-sponsored—a way for a weaker state to attack a stronger state by creating ambiguities about its role. Moreover, such acts of terrorism generally aim to achieve some political goal.
However, this understanding changed radically after Bill Clinton became president in January 1993. Clinton changed the U.S. understanding of terrorism from being a national security issue, with the focus on terrorist states, into a law enforcement issue, with the focus on individuals and groups.
A former governor, Clinton lacked national security experience. But the fundamental reason behind his policy was that Clinton did not want to deal with state sponsors of terrorism in a meaningful way.
Clinton viewed it as a distraction from loftier goals, like pursuing a broad Arab-Israeli peace, and others, including Martin Indyk, his National Security Advisor on the Middle East, accommodated him.
The Biden administration has generally adopted the same stance. It has been unwilling to hold Iran accountable for the actions of its proxies. Not surprisingly, the terrorism continues.
It remains to be seen what the Trump administration will do after Jan. 20, when it takes office. It can follow the model of Ronald Reagan, who focused on state sponsorship of terrorism and held states accountable, or it can follow the model of Bill Clinton, who very deliberately sidestepped the issue.
Latest Statistics
On Friday, Pentagon Spokesperson, Lt. Cdr. Patricia Kreuzberger, explained in an email that between Oct. 18, 2023, and Nov. 21, 2024, there were 206 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
Of the 206 attacks, over half—125—occurred in Syria; 79 were in Iraq; and two occurred in Jordan.
In a Jan. 29, 2024, Pentagon briefing, Deputy Defense Department Press Secretary Sabrina Singh also provided statistics. Between Oct. 17 and Jan. 29, there had been 165 attacks, with 98 in Syria, 66 in Iraq, and one in Jordan.
Thus, the majority of attacks occurred in the first three months of the war between Israel, on the one hand, and Iran and its proxies, on the other. By contrast, less than half of the attacks occurred in the following ten months.
However, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, particularly al-Nujaba and Kata’ib Hizbollah, have been attacking Israel, which has warned that if those attacks do not end, it will retaliate against Iraq.
Read More: US Calls on Iraq to Halt Militia Attacks on Israel
Israel’s assaults on Hamas in Gaza and on Hizbollah in Lebanon have been very destructive. One might think that the prospect of such destruction occurring in Iraq would cause the militias to halt their own attacks.
But, so far, that does not seem to have happened. Most likely, that is because Iran exerts considerable influence over the militias’ actions.
Lack of Meaningful U.S. Response to Attacks on its Troops
Singh’s Jan. 29, 2024, briefing took place the day after a very serious event: the first lethal assault on U.S. forces by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.
On Jan. 28, the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched an attack drone at Tower 22, a military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, from where U.S. troops provided logistical support to local forces fighting ISIS.
The attack killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded another 47.
Because the strike caused such a large number of casualties, journalists at Singh’s briefing the next day pressed her on how the U.S. would respond in order to stop such attacks.
Singh acknowledged that Iran “does fund and equip these groups.” She also stated, “We hold Iran responsible, as they are supporting these groups.”
But when pressed as to what the U.S. would do to deter further attacks, she demurred.
“To your question on deterrence, I can continue to say we don’t seek war,” Singh said. “We don’t want to see this widen out into a regional conflict.”
In other words, the U.S. would not strike Iran.
Critics have decried that approach as “escalation paralysis.” It fails to stop the aggressive party. Indeed, it leaves the aggressor free to determine the nature and pace of the conflict, because the U.S. will not retaliate, as it does not want a wider war—just as Singh explained.
Read More: US: Iran is Arming Proxy Militias for Attacks
Need to Focus on State Sponsor of Terror Attacks
Last January, shortly after the attack on Tower 22, Brig. Gen. Ernest Audino (U.S. Army, Retired) spoke with Kurdistan 24 and called on the Biden administration to be much tougher on Iran.
“We need a very forceful response.” Audino said. “Unfortunately, decades of reasoned discussion with Tehran have not mitigated their aggressive behavior. They’re meddling throughout the Middle East.”
Read More: Brig. Gen. Audino: Biden Needs to Take ‘Decisive Action’ against Iran
“Now we have over 160 strikes against U.S. assets and locations in the region,” he continued, citing Singh’s statistics.
“We have three recent deaths of Americans. We have several strikes inside Erbil against our Kurdish partners. And after 160 strikes against Americans, we need a very forceful response,” he added.
Audino cited an example of one such forceful response: what Ronald Reagan did in 1988, as Iran began to mine the Straits of Hormuz.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was still alive. He was Iran’s Supreme Leader, and Reagan warned him against such actions. But the Iranians paid no heed.
”So we launched “Operation Praying Mantis,” Audino said, explaining that it was “the largest naval operation since World War II, and we destroyed half the Iranian Navy.”
“And guess what?,” Audino continued. “The Iranians stopped mining the Straits of Hormuz.” So, he concluded, “After 160 strikes on Americans and our partners, it’s time for a decisive American response.”
The Biden administration has not responded to Tehran’s aggression in any such way and probably will not in the two months left in its term. However, after Donald Trump returns to the presidency, the U.S. may, perhaps, act in accord with Audino’s advice.