The American Wall Street Journal reported that the aerial bombardment launched by American forces on sites of pro-Iranian armed groups in the Middle East may be less effective in calming tensions in the region than an agreement that stops the fighting between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.
According to the newspaper’s report, the American retaliatory strikes in response to the killing of 3 American soldiers by Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iraq are carefully studied, to ward off attacks on American forces in the Middle East without pushing Iran into a direct conflict.
Whatever reaction the bombing provokes, it is unlikely to prevent Iran’s allies from launching further attacks against American and Israeli interests. However, analysts and officials in the region, quoted by the newspaper, believe that stopping these attacks requires a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Early on Saturday morning, American forces launched strikes on sites they said were belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force in Syria and Iraq, in response to the killing of 3 American soldiers in an attack targeting a military base in northeastern Jordan, amid warnings of dragging the region into a wide-scale war. .
The planes took off from America
The US Central Command announced that the strikes were carried out by aircraft launched from the United States, including long-range bombers, noting that more than 125 precision-guided missiles were used.
It added that the targeted facilities are command, control and espionage centers and storage sites for missiles and drones.
These armed groups have launched more than 160 attacks on American forces in Iraq and Syria since the start of the war in Gaza, which represents a sharp escalation in a slowly worsening conflict in which the militants aim to expel the United States from the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper attributes the reason for igniting the fiery conflict between the United States and the constellation of factions allied with Iran, to the war launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah and the Houthis
Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza, Lebanese Hezbollah has also engaged in an exchange of fire on Israel’s northern border. The attacks launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis have severely affected international shipping traffic in the Red Sea, prompting the United States to launch air strikes on lands controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen.
The two groups (Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthis) announced that they would not stop the fighting until Israel stopped its aggression against the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper pointed out that the war in Gaza, which claimed the lives of 27,000 people – most of them women and children – put the administration of US President Joe Biden under greater pressure to achieve its dual political goal of a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli prisoners and detainees held by Hamas.
The United States is pushing a proposal that would halt the war between Hamas and Israel for six weeks initially, to allow the hostages to leave and pave the way for a more sustainable peace. However, the newspaper says that there are major obstacles preventing the two sides from being convinced to agree to the deal, especially internal divisions in Israel over accepting its terms as they are.
