- The president changed his air strike plans against Iran-backed militias at the last minute.
- Battlefield intelligence indicated the presence of a woman and children in one of the two areas of attack.
- With the fighters in the air, Biden chose to attack only one target, bypassing that target with civilians.
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With attack aircraft already in the air and en route to targets, President Joe Biden made last-minute changes to the plans of his first major military order as commander in chief to prevent the death of a woman and children, reported The Wall Street Journal On thursday. .
Last Thursday, Biden ordered the US military to carry out an attack on facilities in Syria used by Iranian-backed militias that carried out a series of rocket attacks in Iraq that killed and injured US and coalition officials.
The Pentagon said in a statement that “the operation sends an unequivocal message: President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel”.
Although other military operations have taken place since Biden took office, last Thursday’s attacks mark the first known military action that the president personally directed.
F-15E Strike Eagle
US Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Chris Drzazgowski
Two F-15E Strike Eagles dropped seven precision-guided munitions that completely destroyed nine facilities and damaged two others at a location in Abu-Kamal along the Iraq-Syria border.
The targets were deliberately chosen to paralyze militia operations, as well as to send a message to Iran, but not to leave a significant number of victims behind.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the plan was initially to attack more targets, but Biden, with guidance from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, changed plans with the attack aircraft just 30 minutes from the target after intelligence spotted it a woman with children on a patio.
The battlefield intelligence indicating the presence of a woman with children in the attack area was relayed to the president by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Biden then had to make the decision to cancel the air strikes or hit just one of the two targets.
Biden opted for the latter. Bombs fell on the only target at around 1:30 am in Syria.
Subsequently, the president made his message clear to the militias supported by Iran and Iran in a public statement, saying: “You cannot act with impunity. Be careful.”
The Biden government began planning its response shortly after a rocket attack in mid-February that killed a coalition contractor and injured at least seven Americans, including a United States military.
Last Thursday morning, Biden met with senior officials in the Situation Room, where a selection of possible retaliatory actions was presented. The choice of president was the most conservative of the options available, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Biden’s decision to change his plans to prevent the unwanted deaths of women and children is consistent with other management actions, such as the decision to curb drone attacks outside active war zones in the midst of an ongoing policy review, looking in part if measures need to be taken to better prevent unintended civilian deaths.
The air strike in Syria killed one member of the militia and wounded two others. The Pentagon said the strike achieved its goals amid questions about whether the attacks were a sufficient response.
“This was really designed to do two things: remove that compound from its use as a control point of entry from Syria to Iraq, and two, send out a very strong signal that we will not tolerate attacks on our people and on our partners Iraqis, “Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Monday.
Although the aim of the air strike was to prevent future rocket attacks, Al Asad’s air base in Iraq was attacked on Wednesday.
No one was killed by the ten rockets fired at the base, but a US civilian contractor suffered a heart attack while taking shelter and later died. The Biden government is still considering what its response will be as the investigation continues.