Attacks on Coalition forces continue, as very limited US retaliatory strike failed at deterrence

"That prospect always needs to be in the minds of our enemies, and when you are attacked you need to threaten painful retaliation, and be prepared, if necessary, to do it."
A member of the Iraqi security forces inspects the damage in the capital Baghdad after a volley of rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital, November 18, 2020. (Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)
A member of the Iraqi security forces inspects the damage in the capital Baghdad after a volley of rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital, November 18, 2020. (Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – Attacks targeting the US-led, anti-ISIS Coalition continued on Wednesday for the third day in a row.

Wednesday's attacks were aimed at Coalition sites in Syria and Iraq. They began on Jan. 3, the second anniversary of the assassination of Gen. Qasim Soleimani, head of the Qods Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), after he flew into Iraq, from Syria.

The attacks have continued daily since Monday. However, the US response has been minimal. As Kurdistan 24 earlier warned, "The risk in such caution is that it just invites more aggression, because there is no penalty for it."

Read More: US strike in eastern Syria—follows third attack on Coalition targets

Indeed, following Wednesday's attacks, a former US intelligence officer advised Kurdistan 24, "The Biden administration is wrong in its attitude to using military force."

"That prospect always needs to be in the minds of our enemies, and when you are attacked you need to threaten painful retaliation, and be prepared, if necessary, to do it," he continued. "Otherwise, you end up with this situation."

Wednesday's Strikes

Wednesday's attack on a Coalition facility in Syria was the second such assault since Monday, directed at a military base in the country's northeast: Green Village.

In Iraq, the target was a Coalition site within the Baghdad International Airport complex—which had also been targeted on Monday.

The second attack on Baghdad Airport came overnight on Tuesday, as Iraq's Security Media Cell announced. It consisted of a rocket, fired from the al-Jihad neighborhood of western Baghdad, where the airport also lies.

Wednesday's rocket targeted "Camp Victory"—a site used by US-led forces since 2003 (with the brief exception of 2012-13), and where this reporter once served as a cultural advisor to the US military in Iraq.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell explained that Iraqi Security Forces had recovered a rocket launcher, loaded with a 240 mm rocket from the al-Jihad area, but did not say, if the attack had caused any damage.

Read More: Rocket fired at Baghdad airport

No US Response to Attacks in Iraq

Somewhat stunningly, the US has made no statement about a rocket which landed in a camp, where US troops (and other Coalition forces) are based, nor has it taken any other action.

In a nod to Iraqi sovereignty, such a response seems to have become the responsibility of the Baghdad government. As a State Department spokesperson told Kurdistan 24," The incident is being investigated by the Government of Iraq and we refer you to them for comment."

Questions arise about the wisdom of such far-reaching deference to Baghdad's sensibilities. Iraqi President Barham Salih delivered a major speech on Wednesday, which included praise for those who had contributed to ISIS's territorial defeat.

In that context, the Iraqi president lauded Soleimani and the Deputy Commander of the pro-Iranian militias, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was killed alongside Soleimani.

Salih accorded high praise to "the martyr leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis" and "the great Iranian leader Haj Qasim Soleimani." Yet at the same time, he failed to express one word of appreciation for the Coalition's efforts against ISIS.

Without the Coalition, there is a very significant chance that ISIS would have overrun the country—and all senior Iraqi officials, including Salih, would not enjoy their current positions (let alone the terrible fate that ordinary Iraqi citizens would have faced.)

Limited US Response to Attacks in Syria

In Syria, where the US does not defer to Damascus, as it does not recognize the sovereignty of the Bashar al-Assad regime, it has responded to attacks on its forces both verbally, as well as with limited military strikes.

A news report issued by the Coalition on Wednesday explained that its "forces were targeted this morning by eight rounds of indirect fire at Green Village, a Syrian Democratic Forces base with a small Coalition advisory presence, in northeast Syria."

"The attack did not cause any casualties, but several rounds impacted inside the Coalition base and caused minor damage," the report said.

The Coalition "responded swiftly," it continued, "and fired six rounds of artillery towards the point of origin of the attack just outside Mayadin, Syria."

On Tuesday, the Coalition had struck seven Katyusha rocket launching sites, as it responded to a similar attack Monday on Green Village.

"Commander's Revenge Operations"

The most obvious parties behind these assaults are Iran and its proxies. Indeed, the drones that targeted Baghdad airport on Monday had "Commander's Revenge Operations" written on them, according to news reports.

A military expert holding a part of one of two armed drones the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq said it shot down while targeting a compound hosting coalition, Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo: AFP Photo/Handout/Coalition)
A military expert holding a part of one of two armed drones the US-led coalition against the ISIS group in Iraq said it shot down while targeting a compound hosting coalition, Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo: AFP Photo/Handout/Coalition)

The picture of a wing of the armed drone targeting the Baghdad Airport (above), which the Coalition downed on Monday, carries that inscription.

But the literal translation of the Arabic is worth noting: "Operations of the Revenge of the Leadership (or Commanders)."

That translation suggests multiple attacks, carried out on behalf of more than just Soleimani. On Jan. 3, Iran's new hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, called for former US President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to face criminal trials for Soleimani's assassination, vowing, that otherwise "Muslims will take our martyr's revenge."

The most notable change in the Coalition's response—between Tuesday and Wednesday—to the strikes on Green Village was not so much military, as verbal.

The Biden administration has been extraordinarily unwilling to acknowledge the role of Iran, or even its proxies, in these attacks.

The report that the Coalition issued on Wednesday, describing both the attack on Green Village and the Coalition response, marked something of a shift. It was titled "Coalition: Iran-backed militia attacks a dangerous distraction from mission," thus clearly identifying the source of the attacks (which its report on Tuesday failed to do.)

It quoted Coalition Commander Maj. Gen. John Brennan as saying, "Our Coalition continues to see threats against our forces in Iraq and Syria by militia groups that are backed by Iran."

But it still lacked the kind of threat usual in such circumstances: you do this, and we will do that.

Instead, Brennan's remarks concluded, "These attacks are a dangerous distraction from our Coalition's shared mission to advise, assist, and enable partner forces to maintain the enduring defeat of Daesh."

As if Tehran much cared.