Biden Sends U.S. Forces To Protect Israel’s Borders for the First Time Ever
This weekend’s air raids in the Middle East set a lot of records. Iran carried out its first ever direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory, launching an unprecedentedly large swarm of drones and missiles against Israeli military bases. And for the first time in history, U.S. troops engaged in direct combat in defense of Israeli territory.
The U.S. military shot down three Iranian ballistic missiles and 70 drones that were en route to Israeli military bases, officials told CNN. American ships and fighter jets were involved in the operation. Videos shared online also purport to show U.S. ground troops in Iraqi Kurdistan firing antiaircraft missiles. The British and French militaries assisted in the operation, and Jordan reportedly shot down Iranian drones over its own airspace.
Although Israel and its protectors stopped most of the Iranian air raids, Iranian state media has claimed that Israel’s Nevatim Air Base was “damaged severely” and put out of service. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari has denied this, saying that Nevatim was only slightly damaged and “continues to perform its tasks.” No deaths were reported.
Iran was retaliating for an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. That attack killed 16 people, including an Iranian general.
President Joe Biden, after pledging his full support to Israel for months, may have finally tapped the breaks. After Saturday’s air raids, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States will not support an Israeli counterstrike on Iran, according to Axios, because Israel already “got a win. Take the win.” The New York Times reports that some members of the Israeli war cabinet wanted to attack Iran immediately but that Biden’s call talked them out of it.
Publicly, Biden condemned the “unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel” and promised to “coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.” He confirmed that “we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today.”
Israel’s next move—and America’s—is anyone’s guess.
Although the United States had not been informed of the consulate attack beforehand, Biden jumped to Israel’s aid afterward. When Iran threatened to retaliate, Biden promised to grant Israel “ironclad” support and to “do all we can to protect Israel’s security.” And he had Gen. Michael Kurilla, head of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, fly to Israel a few days before the Iranian retaliation.
Iran and Israel have flung violent threats and proxy attacks at each other for decades. While Iran has armed Hamas and other Palestinian rebels, Israel has assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists and bombed Iranian troops in Iraq and Syria with tacit U.S. support.
The Hamas attacks of October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza escalated the conflict across the entire region. Iranian-backed forces in Yemen attacked Israeli shipping, Iranian-backed paramilitaries in Lebanon fired on the Israeli border, and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq broke their truce with the U.S. military.
Israeli leaders m
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