The War in the Gaza Strip: Defending the Middle East with the U.S. Military and Security Forces to Win Over the Public Opinion
The Biden administration tried to stake out a moral high ground against Russia, condemning it for indiscriminately killing civilians in the war on Ukraine.
The argument resonated in much of the West, but less so in other parts of the world, which viewed the war as more of a great-power conflict and declined to participate in sanctions or otherwise isolate Russia.
Now, as Israel bombards the Gaza Strip, killing more than 4,300 people since Oct. 7, the Biden administration’s unwavering support risks creating new headwinds in its efforts to win over global public opinion.
In a speech at the White House on Thursday, the President referred to both Israel and Ukraine as democracies fighting their enemies. While Russia invaded and wants to annexUkraine, Hamas staged a massacre that killed at least 1,400 people in southern Israel.
But Israel’s counterattack on Gaza, its threats to mount a ground invasion and America’s tight embrace of its most important Mideast ally, regardless, have prompted cries of hypocrisy.
The Middle East conflict has been accused of such things before. But the dynamics of the dual crises have gone beyond Washington’s desire to rally global support to isolate and punish Russia for invading its neighbor.
The Middle East has become a renewed front in the battle for influence in the Global South, pitting the West against Russia and China.
The war in the Middle East will cause a wedge between the west and countries in the Global South, according to the chair of the New York based risk assessment organization. It will make international cooperation even harder onUkraine, like sanctions enforcement on Russia.
The War Between Iraq and Gaza: U.S. Implications for Israeli Security Assistance to Israel and its Effort in Fighting Hamas
The Biden administration is concerned that Israel lacks achievable military objectives in Gaza, and that the Israel Defense Forces are not yet ready to launch a ground invasion with a plan that can work, senior administration officials said.
Lloyd J. Austin III stressed to his Israeli counterpart the need for careful consideration of how Israeli forces could conduct a ground attack on Gaza, which has Hamas tunnels under densely populated areas.
Biden administration officials said the United States had supported the ground invasion and had not told Israel what to do. The three-star Marine and other officers from the Pentagon have gone to Israel to help it fight the urban war.
Mr. Austin told Mr. Gallant of the campaign to clear the Iraqi city of Mosul of Islamic State fighters. At that time, Mr. Austin was the leader of the US central command and American troops were assisting the Kurds and Iraqis in the fight.
“The first thing that everyone should know, and I think everyone does know, is that urban combat is extremely difficult,” Mr. Austin told ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday.
He said that he had “encouraged” Mr. Gallant to “conduct their operations in accordance with the law of war.” A ground invasion in Gaza could lead to the deaths of many people.
He was on the phone again with Mr. Gallant on Monday, Pentagon officials said, emphasizing “the importance of civilian protection.” In an email, a brindle made a statement Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said that the two men also discussed American security assistance to Israel.
American officials have said that Israel has to decide if it wants to take out Hamas by usingsurgical airstrikes combined with targeted raids by special operations troops or if it wants to roll into Gaza with tanks and infantry.
Both tactics will result in heavy losses, but a ground operation could be far bloodier for troops and civilians. More than a decade after Falluja, the officials at the Pentagon think that the clearing operations of the Iraqi city of Mosul and Raqqa are a better example of urban warfare.
The Battle of Mosul, Syria, and the War on the Gaza Strip: State-of-the-Art and Sensitive Senator Jack Reed
“One of the things we’ve learned is how to account for civilians in the battle space, and they are a part of the battle space, and we, in accordance of the law of war, we’ve got to do what’s necessary to protect those civilians,” Mr. Austin said on Sunday.
Both Raqqa and Mosul have resulted in civilian casualties. While such figures can vary widely, The Associated Press put the number of civilians killed during the effort to rid Mosul of Islamic State fighters at between 9,000 and 11,000. And the Islamic State had only two years to prepare defenses in Mosul, argued Michael Knights, a fellow with The Washington Institute.
In an analysis, Mr. Knights wrote that Hamas has had 15 years to prepare for a dense defense in depth and that it involves subterranean, ground-level and aboveground fortifications.
Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, called on Israel on Monday to delay a ground invasion of Gaza to buy time for hostage negotiations, allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians and give Israeli commanders more opportunity to fine-tune their urban-combat planning.
“From an operational standpoint, this is very complicated, and the more intelligence you gather and your troops can take into urban combat, the better,” Mr. Reed said by phone from Cairo, where he and other senators were wrapping up a trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt. It might be helpful to have a little extra time. There are so many factors. It is not the best approach to rush into this.