After U.S. Attack In Syria Iran Demonstrates Its Escalation Dominance

Moon of Alabama

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin answering scripted questions—as usual. The stenographers to power make his job quite easy, actually.

Last night the U.S. escalated the situation in Iraq by bombing Iraqi government security forces at the Iraqi-Syrian border station near Abu-Kamal/Al-Qaim. One Iraqi soldier, a Sunni, was killed. Other sources claim that as many as 22 were killed.

The Pentagon spinmasters and their stenographers in the media use Orwellian language to justify the crime. The official press release says:

U.S. Conducts Defensive Precision Strike

Feb. 25, 2021

(Attributable to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby)

“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria. These strikes were authorized in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel. Specifically, the strikes destroyed multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kait’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kait’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).

This proportionate military response was conducted together with diplomatic measures, including consultation with Coalition partners. The operation sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq.”

The last attack on U.S. units in Iraq happened on February 15 against a U.S. position in Erbil, Iraq. Some three small rockets were fired by an unknown group of provocateurs.

To call an attack with seven 500 pound bombs on a border station guarded by official Iraqi security forces against ISIS attacks hundreds of miles away from Erbil "defensive" and "in response" is of course ridiculous.

Katib Hisbullah (not related to Hizbullah in Lebanon) and KSS are under command of the Iraqi prime minister. They were founded with help from Iran in 2014 to fight against ISIS. Since 2018 they are regular Iraqi forces paid and equipped by the Iraqi government, not by Iran. This attack will escalate the situation in Iraq. More attacks against U.S. and other foreign units there are now assured.

US led coalition airplanes over Syria: always up to no good.

Together with the deliberate steps to make a return to the nuclear deal with Iran more complicated this attack can be seen as a deliberate escalation against the 'resistance axis' of Iran, Syria, Hizbullah in Lebanon and their supporters.

The Biden administration has yet to learn the lesson Trump learned when he tired of provoking Iran and its allies. It is the resistance that has escalation dominance in the Middle East. It can control the pace of further steps up the escalation ladder. It is willing to step up higher than the U.S. It knows how to use that ability.

Here is proof for that:

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian @manniefabian - 14:34 UTC · 26 Feb 2021

An explosion struck an Israeli-owned cargo ship sailing in the Gulf of Oman Friday. The crew and vessel were safe. The explosion forced the vessel, reported to be the Helios Ray, to head to the nearest port.

AP has details:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An explosion struck an Israeli-owned cargo ship sailing out of the Middle East on Friday, an unexplained blast renewing concerns about ship security amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The crew and vessel were safe, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy. The explosion forced the vessel to head to the nearest port.

The site of the blast, the Gulf of Oman, saw a series of explosions in 2019 that the U.S. Navy blamed on Iran against the backdrop of steeply rising threats between former President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders. Tehran denied the accusations, which came after Trump abandoned Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on the country.
...
Satellite-tracking data from website MarineTraffic.com showed the Helios Ray had been nearly entering the Arabian Sea around 0600 GMT Friday before it suddenly turned around and began heading back toward the Strait of Hormuz. It still listed Singapore as its destination on its tracker.

A United Nations ship database identified the vessel’s owners as a Tel Aviv-based firm called Ray Shipping Ltd. Calls to Ray Shipping rang unanswered Friday.

Abraham Ungar, 74, who goes by “Rami,” is the founder of Ray Shipping Ltd., and is known as one of the richest men in Israel.

The dimwits in Biden's National Security Council seem to think that they can push Iran around and press it for "concessions". It is exactly the other way around. Iran and its allied forces can hit well selected targets like the Israeli ship, Saudi oil installation or U.S. bases in the Middle East with precision and at a time that fits their schedule. The U.S. has no ability to prevent such strikes nor can it respond in kind without risking a wider war that it has no chance to win.

Biden can return to the nuclear deal by lifting the sanctions on Iran. Or he can attempt to escalate further to get his additional "concessions". Those efforts will not only be costly for the U.S. and its allies as Iran can and will response in kind but also futile.

It's his choice to make.

Posted by b on February 26, 2021 at 15:57 UTC | Permalink 

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