US-Saudi joint strikes on Iran-backed militias are a milestone in cooperation
Peloni: The paramilitary groups in Iraq must be dismantled. They serve as a critical base of operations from which Iran can strike across the region as demonstrated by the recent attacks which initiated the response described below. When or if this is accomplished, it would serve as a serious setback to Iranian power projection in the region, while also freeing its continued threats across Iraq as well. So the message that needs to be sent to Iran is that their power base in Iraq is at an end, but again, for this to take place, the US-Saudi air attack in Iraq will need a ground force to achieve this aim, and America is still one ground army short of having a ground army with which to support its interests in the region. It is noteworthy to recall, of course, that Iran has been steadily pummeling the Kurdish paramilitary groups in Iraq since the war began in February, so might this be a moment in which Trump drops his antagonism towards the Kurds to at least eliminate Iran’s continued leverage and power base in Iraq? Unfortunately, Trump’s deference to Turkey will likely still act as a decisive factor in the answer to this question being ‘no’.
US CENTCOM said that American forces and “the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted precision strikes in Iraq, July 28, against Iran-aligned terrorists that the IRGC directed to attack US forces.”
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN |
US Central Command said overnight that US and Saudi forces had struck Iran-backed terrorists in Iraq. The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq had been targeting Saudi Arabia over the last several days from July 26 to July 28.
