Iraqi Militia Drone Strikes Israeli Navy Base, Israel Destroys Iranian Consulate in Syria Damascus strike kills senior IRG commander and several subordinates

NOTE: The New Arab has published my latest piece, How Israel’s war on Gaza could determine the US elections. Please give it a read.

An Iraqi militia allied with Iran struck the Israeli naval base in Eilat last Sunday. The base is the home port for navy corvettes patrolling the Gulf of Aqaba and also presumably the Houthi stronghold of the Bab al Mandab strait.  The drone attack damaged a building on the base and no casualties are reported.  This is the first time the Iraqi militia hit a military target inside Israel (it has reportedly struck an Israeli village in the north) and a significant escalation in hostilities between the two parties.

After attacking US forces in Syria, killing three soldiers, and the Biden administration retaliatory bombing of Iraqi militia targets, including the killing  of one of their commanders, Iran reined in its allies.  They, as a result, announced suspension of such assaults on American targets.  Now the Iraqi attacks have resumed, but against Israeli bases.

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Israel wreaks revenge

Within hours, Israel responded by bombing the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing five including two Iran Revolutionary Guard generals. The building, located next door to Iran’s embassy in Syria, was completely destroyed.  Though Israel has assassinated IRG generals in the past, this is the first time it has struck a diplomatic target.  It is a grave violation of international diplomatic protocols, which call for protection of such facilities.  Though such attacks have happened in the past, it is the first time within memory, Iran or Israel have attacked each others diplomats or diplomatic targets.

It sets a new precedent for hostilities, yet another violation of international law, yet another expansion of the Gaza war into a potential regional conflict.  Thus, Israel has called up its military reserves in anticipation of increased Hezbollah attacks in the north.  Defense minister, Yoav Gallant, threatened to release the Dogs of War:

“We are hitting our enemies all over the Middle East,” he said. Gallant said…”We prefer a diplomatic agreement that would remove the threat but must prepare for a scenario of war so we must be prepared and accept that it may occur,” he said.

In fact, after 10/7 Gallant urged attacking Hezbollah, rather than Hamas.  He saw it as a far more formidable threat.  He continues to rattle sabers.  The least unanticipated spark could set this region ablaze.  Israel appears more than willing to light it.

In addition to blaming Israel, Iran has pointed the finger at the US:

…The US…remains Israel’s indispensable ally and unstinting supplier of weapons, responsible for some 70% of Israeli weapon imports and an estimated 15% of Israel’s defense budget. That includes providing the kind of advanced aircraft and munitions that appear to have been employed in the attack.

Iran warns that when it takes revenge it will not distinguish between Israeli and US targets:

Multiple arms of Iran’s government served notice that they would hold the United States accountable for the fiery attack.

It sees the Biden administration as an accessory to every Israeli act of terrorism, whether in Gaza or Damascus. It doesn’t matter whether the US is actually complicit.  We are implicated as accessories to the Gaza slaughter.

A US general warned that Iran and its proxy allies may end their restraint and resume their attacks on our forces in the region:

…The top U.S. Air Force commander for the Middle East, Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewic said…“I am concerned because of the Iranian rhetoric talking about the U.S., that there could be a risk to our forces.”

…Grynkewich told reporters the U.S. is watching and listening carefully to what Iran is saying and doing to evaluate how Tehran might respond.

Biden: on the road to defeat

NOTE: the White House has just released a readout of today’s phone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu.  It puts the following passage into a different light. I will be posting about it in a few hours.

Despite the Iranian warning, Biden appears to believe he can pursue a policy of dithering.  Using the rhetoric of concern for Gaza while doing nothing.  He believes he is showing he is “even-handed” by abstaining from a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, while sending billions in weapons to the IDF to slaughter more Gazans. Yesterday, the US announced a planned sale of $18-billion worth of F-15 warplanes to Israel–50 altogether. These are the weapons Israel uses to murder Iranian generals.  Our weapons. We are implicated.

You can’t sit on the fence in the face of genocide. You can’t make perfunctory gestures while arming a nation intent on genocide.  That isn’t a policy. It’s a slapdash improvised response to a crisis that deserves clear, definitive strategic action. Action Biden refuses to take.

This has bled into the presidential contest.  In the latest state primaries in Wisconsin and Connecticut, 10% of voters abandoned him, choosing “uncommitted.”  The 48,000 protest votes in Wisconsin were double Biden’s winning margin there in 2020.  It will only take a relatively small number of votes in each state to sway the result either way.  Biden can’t afford such leakage, believing he can tough this out; and that all these voters will return to the fold in November.  Certainly, most will return. But he doesn’t need “most.” He needs them all in a squeaker of an election.

Biden is a failure to Americans, a failure to Gazans. and a failure to the world.  Regardless of the decline of American global power, the US remains a world leader, including in the Middle East. If we were to act, the European states would follow.  Together, they could end the war, end the genocide. Instead, they are a deer caught in the headlights–immobile, stunned, impotent.