When the Pentagon took out Iran’s 63-year-old al-Quds chief Qassem Solemani and 62-year-old Kataib Hezbollah chief Abu Mahdi al-Muandris with a predator drone strike Jan. 2, it was just a matter of time until Iran retaliated. When Iran fired rockets Jan. 8 into Iraq’s Ayn al-Assad airbase injuring 100 U.S. soldiers with concussions, the Pentagon knew more would follow. Trump decided not to retaliate because Iran’s missile strike did not kill U.S. military personnel. Kataib Hezbollah fired 12 to 18 Katusha rockets into Camp Taji today, killing two U.S. solders, wounding U.S., British and Polish coalition forces. Shortly after, the U.S. hit Kataib Hezbollah’s ammunition depot, hoping to degrade Iranian-backed Shiite militias attacking U.S. and coalition forces. Earlier this evening, the United States conducted defensive precision strikes against Kataib Hezbollah [KH] facilities in Iraq,” said the Pentagon.
When Iran hit Ayn al-Assad airbase Jan. 8, 73-year-old President Donald Trump let 80-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime off the hook. Trump didn’t follow President Ronald Reagan’s policy of “swift-and-effective” retribution for all terrorist acts against U.S. and its allies. Today’s attack by Kataib Hezbollah injuring coalition soldiers is payback for killing Solemani and al-Muhandris Jan. 8. “These strikes targets five weapons storage facilities to significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks against Operation Inherent Resolve [OIR] coalition forces,” said the Pentagon. Pentagon officials have a slippery enemy in Kataib Hezbollah, one among manyl loosely connected Shiite militias backed by Iran and operating in Iraq and Syria with impunity. Instead of targeting weapon storage facilities, the Pentagon should go directly after Iranian targets in the region.
Retaliating against terror groups is a dicey game for the Pentagon, trying to stop attacks on U.S. and coalition forces. “The United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests or our allies,” said Defense Secretary Mike Esper. Yet Esper didn’t go after Iran, instead settling for Kataib Hezbollah’s ammunition stockpiles. As long as Iran continues to supply arms-and-cash to Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. will find its interests attacked. “As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region,” said Esper, not explaining why he didn’t go after Iran, the source of state-sponsored terrorism in the region. Going after Shiite militias doesn’t stop Iran from supplying them arms-and-cash to attack the U.S. and its partners. With Iran squeezed now with a deadly Covid-19 outbreak, the Pentagon has more leverage.
Pentagon officials should coordinate with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to immediately stop Iran from borrowing $6 billion from the International Monetary Fund [IMF] to help combat Covid-19. Since the U.S. provides the lion’s share of IMF funding, the U.S. has clout on where the money goes. Speaking with Bulgarian IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva, Mnuchin can make any lending contingent to pulling funding for Shiite militias. How that would be verified is anyone’s guess. But Iran should be put on notice that it’s not credit worthy until in abandons state-sponsored terror operations through its al-Quds militia and proxies “All options are on the table as we work with our partners to bring the perpetrators to justice and maintain deterrence,” Esper told Pentagon reporters. So far, Esper has failed to deter Iran’s state-sponsored terror activities.
Esper presented Trump with his options in response to Kataib Hezobllah’s Katusha rocket attacks on Iraq’s Camp Taji. Only by directly hitting Iran will the Kataib Hezbollah strikes stop, only after Iran stops funding the terror group. Iran has never paid a price for attacking oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Saudi’s main oil refinery last summer. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Miley confirmed that only Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah has the equipment needed to pound Camp Taji with Katusha rockets. “We have a good indication based on forensics where it was fired from, who did the firing, so on and so forth,” Miley said. Trump responded with proper ambiguity. “Let’s put it this way, you will see. I can’t say,” Trump said, about what he planned to do to retaliate. “I was working on that last night also. They sent a long of rockets. It hasn’t been fully determined it was Iran.”
Ayatollah Khamenei can’t be too comfortable knowing that the Pentagon is actively planning for a strike on Iran. Trump always said he reserved the right to respond to Iranian aggression at a time of his choosing. Middle East troop Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said “that the Iranian proxy group Kataib Hezbollah [KH[ is the only proxy group known to have previously conducted an indirect fire attack of his scale against the U.S. and Coalition forces in Iraq.” McKenzie was clear as a bell in fingering Iran as the culprit in killing two soldiers and injuring multiple coalition forces. “I would believe that a red line for the United States is going to be the death of U.S. service members or those of our partners and allies,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the Jan. 2 strike on Solemani and al-Muhandris. “So that’s a red line,” warning Iran that there will be consequences.
