The American scenario was repeated to the nearest millimeter during a year of war. Israel launches an attack and, with the war on the brink of regional expansion, the United States announces the deployment of additional planes, ships and soldiers to the Middle East. While he speaks optimistically about negotiations for a ceasefire, his strategy has not focused on trying to stop the massacre of his Israeli ally in Gaza or its operations on the territory of other countries like the Syria, Iran, Lebanon or Yemen, but on deterring Israel’s enemies with its military power so that they do not respond and a regional war does not break out.
“The United States is not prepared to stop or use its influence to put pressure on Israel, particularly regarding the ceasefire in Gaza, but also to avoid further regional provocations,” he said. said Daniel Levy, former Israeli negotiator under the mandates of Ehud Barak and Isaac Rabin in 2007. various peace processes and current president of the think tank US/Middle East Project. “The preferred method of de-escalation is a combination of noise generation and expectations for a ceasefire to buy time while increasing the threat against the Iranian axis, including with additional military deployments in the region. »
In 2024, the United States expanded its military presence in the Middle East to approximately 40,000 troops.
The killing begins
October 21, 2023, two weeks after the Hamas attack and the start of the Israeli offensive – which had already cost the lives of nearly 4,400 Palestinians (including 62% women and children) and while 42% Homes were already destroyed or damaged – the United States announced its first major deployment to the region.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin then announced the dispatch of an aircraft carrier strike group (a combat unit typically consisting of 7,500 troops, 75 aircraft, an attack submarine, a resupply, four to six destroyers, a battle cruiser and an aircraft carrier) and a squadron of F-16 fighter-bombers (composed of 15 to 24 aircraft). It has also deployed an anti-missile system and several Patriot missile battalions in various parts of the region. Finally, it placed several forces already deployed in the area on operational alert.
This deployment had three objectives, according to the Pentagon: to protect American forces in the region – targeted for their support of Israel in its military offensive –, “to support Israel’s right to defend itself” and “to prevent a wider conflict in the region “. » Following the US deployment, the Pentagon also bolstered Israel’s arsenal with precision munitions, bombs, artillery and “advisers to help Israeli officials mitigate civilian casualties,” among other things.
“Since the Hamas terrorist attack, we have been very clear that we do not want the situation in Israel to escalate into a broader regional conflict,” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said. “Our message to any country or group considering taking advantage of this situation to expand the conflict is: don’t do it.”
Attack on Iranian consulate in Syria
The attempt at deterrence did not work. Since then, Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets at Israeli targets and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched a series of attacks on merchant ships in Red Sea waters in response to the carnage in Gaza.
On April 1, it was Israel that nearly sparked a regional conflict with its bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed 16 people, including 8 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Tehran has vowed revenge.
Then the United States also increased its military presence, although it did not give details of additional forces, including several advanced F-35 fighter jets that arrived on April 12, just a day before the Iranian attack on Israel with around 300 cruise missiles and drones. Once again, the goal was “to increase regional deterrence,” a Pentagon official told Military Times. American fighters then shot down 70 Iranian drones.
“There really is no American strategy,” Francis Ghilès, a senior associate researcher at the CIDOB think tank specializing in geopolitics and security, told elDiario.es. “They are prisoners of Israel and Netanyahu’s extremist policies. Biden is a pro-Israel like no other. Maybe more than Trump. With Obama, it is possible that there will be a different reaction,” he adds.
“The United States is losing its ability to influence international crises. They have less and less influence. They talk a lot, they have a huge army, but they have no worldview. Their only vision is to block China, Iran and Russia, but that cannot happen. The world has changed and they are prisoners of their political incapacity in the face of Iran, with which they do not know what to do,” says Ghìles.
Murder of Haniyeh in Iran
In a careful covert operation, Israel killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 30 when he was invited to Tehran to celebrate the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Israeli agents infiltrated Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards and planted explosives in what was supposed to be one of the capital’s best-maintained buildings. The operation exposed Iran to attack on its territory and against one of its guests and allies.
Just two days later, the United States announced a new military deployment “to increase the protection of American troops and defend Israel,” Sabrina Singh, Pentagon deputy press secretary, said at the time. The reinforcement was coordinated directly between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke by telephone the day after Haniyeh’s assassination. Once again, the United States is covering Israel’s rear after risky regional escalation operations.
Washington repeated the same message: “This will send a message of deterrence” and “support for de-escalation.” “We will continue to call for de-escalation and the best way to achieve this is a ceasefire agreement,” he added while sending more troops to the region.
The Pentagon did not detail what this new deployment consisted of, but Air & Space Forces magazine reported through close sources that it involved a squadron of F-22 Raptor fighters, as well as other cruisers. and destroyers with ballistic missile defense capabilities.
In the following days, the defense secretary also ordered the deployment of a guided-missile submarine and ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly toward the Israeli shores. The submarine’s dispatch took place just three days before the start of a new round of ceasefire negotiations in which the United States had transferred its optimism to the rest of the world.
The United States justified the military buildup by saying Iran was preparing a docking in response that same week. The attack did not take place.
Invasion of Lebanon
A month later, Israel launched a major new offensive in Lebanon, once again placing the region on the brink of new conflict. On September 17 and 18, he executed a major covert operation to simultaneously detonate thousands of Hezbollah communications devices across the country (injuring the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon). Added to this are intense bombings in the south and in the country’s capital against the leaders of Hezbollah. 10 days later, Israel assassinates the leader of the Lebanese Shiite group, Hasan Nasrallah, and announces a ground invasion of Lebanon with “limited incursions” into the south of the country.
And what is the United States doing? New military reinforcement in the region. Just a day before the ground invasion, the Pentagon orders the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and other forces to remain in the area despite planned rotation plans and increases U.S. air defense capabilities. They also sent three squadrons of F-16, F-15 and A-10 fighters (a total of between 45 and 72 aircraft).
“Secretary Austin remains focused on protecting U.S. citizens and forces in the region, defending Israel, and deescalating the situation through deterrence and diplomacy,” Singh said then. Same message as at the start of the conflict.
Finally, just hours before the Iranian attack this Tuesday against Israel with ballistic missiles (in response to the offensive in Iran and the assassination of Haniyeh), the central command of the American army announced the sending in the region of three new squadrons of additional fighter-bombers. (each consisting of 15 to 24 aircraft). Iran claims it did not warn in advance of its attack (as it did in April), but the United States was informed of an imminent operation.
“While the United States has no strategy, Israel accumulates tactical military victories that do not bring it greater security. They can kill 10,000 more Lebanese, but nothing will change,” says Ghìles. “The United States has renounced the role it has played since the end of World War II as the leader of the liberal order. »
