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2022-03-19 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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Top US Mideast general: Iran has attacked US forces numerous times in past 6 months
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[IsraelTimes] The exchange of missile strikes by Iran
 ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....
and Israel in Iraq and Syria puts US forces at risk, the top US commander for the Middle East says, just days after an Iranian missile barrage struck near the US consulate complex in northern Iraq.
Marine General Frank McKenzie tells Pentagon news hounds that over the past six months Iran has attacked US forces and facilities a number of times, but "very good action on the part of commanders on the ground" has thwarted any US casualties.
"Had US casualties occurred, I think we might be in a very different place right now," says McKenzie.
Did Iran attack before six months ago? What about when Donald Trump was president? Some perspective would be useful here. McKenzie and other US officials said this week the missile strikes on Sunday that hit close to the consulate were not aimed at the US. And Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said on its website that it had attacked what it described as an Israeli spy center in Irbil.
US and Israeli officials declined to publicly comment or describe the target. But the attack came several days after Iran said it would retaliate for an Israeli strike near Damascus, Syria, that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard.
"I think it’s obvious that Israel is going to take steps to defend itself when it’s confronted with with Iranian actions. And of course, Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel," McKenzie says. "I do worry about these exchanges between Iran and Israel, because many times our forces are at risk, whether in Iraq or in Syria. So that, in fact, does concern me."
McKenzie, who is retiring after about three years as head of US Central Command, speaks at what is expected to be his final press briefing. He says that as he prepares to turn over the job to incoming Army General Erik Kurilla, his message to his successor is that Iran continues to be his biggest challenge.
"My central problem in my three years of command was Iran," says McKenzie, who also oversaw the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and commando raids to kill Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
leaders. "There were other problems, other huge problems, but the headquarters as a whole... focused on the Iranian problem and everything attendant to that."
But Iran won’t be a problem once they’re freed from American sanctions, right? So your successor won’t need to worry. The US presence in Iraq has long been a flash point for Tehran, but tensions spiked after a January 2020 US dronezap near the Baghdad airport killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani
 . In retaliation, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at al-Asad airbase, where US troops were stationed. More than 100 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries in the blasts.
More recently, Iranian proxies are believed responsible for an liquidation attempt late last year on Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. And officials have said they believe Iran was behind the October drone attack at the military outpost in southern Syria where American troops are based. No US personnel were killed or injured in the attack.
Last year, US forces in Iraq shifted to a non-combat role, but Iran and its proxies still want all American troops to leave the country. McKenzie says the Iranian leaders believe that they can launch a certain level of attacks against the US without affecting the ongoing negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Diplomats trying to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal appear to be near the cusp of an agreement that would bring the US back into the accord and bring Iran back into compliance with limits on its nuclear program.
McKenzie says the US has gotten better at countering potential strikes by Iranian drones and other defensive measures, which contributed to the lack of American casualties. But he and others have noted that the Iranian ballistic missile strikes have gotten more precise.
"We don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and the best way to get to that is probably through a negotiated solution," he says, adding that such a deal won’t likely solve other problems, such as Iranian conventional attacks in the region.
"I don’t think anybody in the United States government is blind to that fact, but... if you can take nuclear weapons off the table, that’s a powerful capability that you don’t have to worry about."
Once that is done, he says, then the US could move on and deal with other problems, including Iran’s increasing ballistic missile and drone threats. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2022-03-19 03:51||
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