The skies of Baghdad were illuminated through a soft arch and a hum, the sound of a special formula that had been installed near the U. S. Embassy in the Green Zone to deal with rocket and mortar fire. The weapon formula is called C-RAM and was deployed in Iraq after dozens of attacks on the embassy and the green zone. The United States has blamed the attacks on pro-Iranian rebel militias. First, Washington faces another turning point in its role in Iraq. are reduced from 5,200 to about 3,000 and Washington will have to do more with less in the country.
This is an era of transition in Iraq in many ways. There’s a new commander for American combat opposed to ISIS. Lieutenant General Paul Calvert took command on September 9, the seventh commander of Operation Inherent Force-Resolution, the coalition he formed in 2014 to defeat Daesh. The coalition has succeeded; ISIS was largely defeated in 2017. By 2019, ISIS had lost all the land it had in Syria, and today the terrorist organization operates from sleeper cells in rural syria and Irak. La coalition includes more than 70 countries, but only a few have provided forces on the floor. Today, floor forces are no longer needed to break down barriers and hunt down IS members. Iraqis, of whom more than 200,000 have been trained and supervised through the coalition, are able to do so.
However, despite success, the challenge of dealing with rocket fire from pro-Iranian teams and the risk of COVID-19 led to immediate force consolidation and withdrawal. The United States and coalition partners have ceded 8 bases and posts to complete Iraq in the more than seven months. This means that U. S. troops are located in just a few positions in Iraq, adding Baghdad, Al-Asad airbase and amenities in the Kurdistan region. President Trump Donald John Trump, State Department revokes visa of Ukrainian best friend related to Giuliani: White House gift shop report promoting ‘Trump beats COVID’ memorial coin, Biden says he shouldn’t have called Trump a clown in the first debate MORE said American fighters had no duty to fight in faraway places and “resolve old conflicts” , and noted that the United States had helped defeat Daesh. The evidence influences the White House’s preference to minimize America’s footprint in Iraq, while detering Iran.
This leaves the Pentagon to do more with less in Iraq. Fortunately, America has the equipment and generation to do just that. Using drones and intelligence, the United States continued to maintain pressure on Daesh. Drones do not win wars, but the United States does not pay for a primary war in Iraq; ISIS is composed of small teams of men hiding in caves and rural areas. For example, in August, the coalition said it had made 17 movements opposed to ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Eleven of these movements took a position in Iraq: they reached 8 caves. , 8 tunnels and killed nine ISIS members.
Maintaining isIS defeat and Iraq’s stability requires continued education by Iraqi forces. This includes only the Iraqi army, but also the Kurdish Peshmerga, an independent military force of the Kurdish Autonomous Region. However, COVID-19 has complicated education and knows when full education can be resumed.
Finally, the United States will have to deter Iran from carrying out further attacks in Iraq. Commanders sought to deter Iran’s proxy in Iraq with airstrikes carried out in reaction to casualties among coalition members. Since March, there have been no casualties yet. There are weekly rocket attacks, and now truck attacks supply coalition forces. The United States has not yet followed a strategy to deter them. The use of the C-RAM formula in Baghdad on September 14 to intercept two rockets fired at the Zone is an example of how high-tech defensive responses can help. The closure of bases and posts also means that there are fewer targets for pro-Iranian militias. The location of U. S. forces in Kurdistan’s most pro-American region has ensured their safety. .
The result is a smaller footprint with only a few thousand U. S. forces, potentially allowing the United States to be more confident because it has no infantrymen exposed to Iran’s threats, but can continue operations opposed to Daesh. This fits a new mode of American warfare: there are no “waves” like those of the mid-2000s, and it focuses on the forces of spouses performing cash operations. As long as ISIS remains in its caves and Iranian militias cannot attack U. S. forces. , this consolidation procedure in Iraq can succeed.
Seth J. Frantzman is executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis, a former assistant professor of American studies at Al-Quds University, covers the Middle East for the Jerusalem Post and is a writing researcher at Ginsburg/Milstein at the Middle East Forum. He is from “After ISIS: How defeating the caliphate changed the Middle East forever. “His new book, “Drone Wars”, will be published in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @sfrantzman.
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