WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The killing of three U.S. troops and wounding of dozens more on Sunday by Iran-backed militants is piling political pressure on President Joe Biden to deal a blow directly against Iran, a move he’s been reluctant to do out of fear of igniting a broader war.
Biden’s response options could range anywhere from targeting Iranian forces outside to even inside Iran, or opting for a more cautious retaliatory attack solely against the Iran-backed militants responsible, experts say.
American forces in the Middle East have been attacked more than 150 times by Iran-backed forces in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and off the coast of Yemen since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October.
But until Sunday’s attack on a remote outpost known as Tower 22 near Jordan’s northeastern border with Syria, the strikes had not killed U.S. troops nor wounded so many. That allowed Biden the political space to mete out U.S. retaliation, inflicting costs on Iran-backed forces without risking a direct war with Tehran.
Talk about reductive.
The October 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas was also a result of 75 years of illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel.
I’m sorry, I don’t follow what you’re trying to convey here.
That there is an even bigger picture than in my comment? Well, yes, of course. The Israel-Palestine situation is a hundred year old mess.
But how was my comment reductive as well? I didn’t lay the blame squarely at the feet of any one party, which is far closer to the truth than saying “It’s all Israel’s fault.”
And if you take contention with me being nuanced, please consider that by doing so you don’t actually do any favours to the conversation and therefore a peaceful resolution that is as fair as can possibly be achieved.
So, if it helps you come back to the table, please know that I absolutely think what Israel is doing is appalling and they have an obscene power disparity over the Palestinian people and are abusing that wholesale - when they could use it to create peace.
It’s about as illegal as the US’s occupation of America.
By that logic, the solution to the conflict is a federation in which all citizen subjects have representative power 👹
Legally speaking, sure, but we haven’t killed natives to expand territory in a while. And they fought back when we did.
Unrelated, but my policy would be to give texas back to Mexico, the west coast to the natives, and accelerate global warming and hope Florida just sinks.
Sure you have. When funding is kept to the lowest levels possible, and people die as a result of it, it’s the same thing.
Just 'cause it takes longer than a bullet doesn’t change the outcome.
What on earth are you on about? Not spending money on native Americans is not the same as annexing their lands.
When your fighters start mutilating, torturing, raping, and kidnapping civilians, It doesn’t matter how righteous you think your cause is.
Indeed. Something Israelis have been doing since before 1948.
“no u”
The earliest massacres in mandatory Palestine were instigated by Arab nationalists. That’s what really got the cycle of violence going and led to the various Jewish terrorist groups and militias.
More relevant to the current war, modern Israel does not behave that way.
Are you considering the deaths of 25,000 people to not be a massacre?
Literally, no. It’s not indiscriminate, these deaths are due to attacks against legal targets, intentionally selected due to evidence of Hamas militants and infrastructure.
So grandmas and babies are Hamas militants. Got it.
Collateral damage, happens in every war. Especially against Hamas who is fond of using Palestinians as human shields, yet curiously remains popular among them.