The U.S. military is now ratcheting up its intensity on two fronts in the Middle East — attacking Iran-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen in retaliation for missile and drone launches against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, while also assaulting Iranian proxies in response to the more than 160 strikes on U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and now Jordan.
President Joe Biden’s actions have been carefully calibrated to avoid provoking a war with Iran. Instead of targeting Iranian military leadership, Friday’s strikes focused on logistical facilities, weapons storage sites and command centers. Still, by striking the Quds Force, a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Biden is sending a stronger message to Tehran.
Early Saturday, Iran’s response to the Friday bombing assault was calculated.
“The attack last night on Syria and Iraq is an adventurous action and another strategic mistake by the American government which will have no result other than increasing tensions and destabilizing the region,” said Nasser Kanaani, the foreign ministry spokesperson.
The governments of Syria and Iraq condemned Friday’s bombing runs, saying they would hurt the ability to fight Islamic State terrorists.
Iran’s proxies in Iraq and Syria seem to be getting the message, however. There have been no additional attacks on U.S. troops in either country, or Jordan, since
the Tower 22 attack that killed three U.S. soldiers, according to a DOD official, who was granted anonymity to speak about sensitive operations. Overall, there have been 166 such attacks since October.
The Houthis on the other hand have continued and even stepped up their campaign against ships in the Red Sea over the past week. On Tuesday, the destroyer USS Gravely shot down a Houthi-launched drone that came within a mile of the vessel. On Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. launched multiple rounds of self-defense strikes, which were much smaller in scale than Saturday’s attacks, destroying a Houthi surface-to-air missile, a ground control station and 10 drones.
Earlier Saturday, U.S. forces conducted smaller-scale strikes against six Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles preparing to launch in Yemen, according to U.S. Central Command. These strikes were described as self defense because the missiles presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.
While this is the third major, pre-planned strike on the Houthis since Jan. 11, the U.S. has conducted several smaller-scale self-defense strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen since then, including two last week.
Alexander Ward contributed to this report