Musk Offers To Help Rebuild A Deradicalized, "Prosperous" Gaza After Touring Ravaged Kibbutz With Netanyahu

Elon Musk showed up in southern Israel on Monday at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where he was given a tour of an Israeli kibbutz left desolate by the Oct.7 Hamas terror raids.

Musk while on a tour of Kfar Aza heard details from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops of the massacres in the kibbutz. Israeli media has described it as a scene of "horrors"—one among more than 20 communities ravaged, where in some cases entire families were butchered. Musk later in the day said it was "it was jarring to see the scene of the massacre."

Musk heard briefings and personal stories both of tragedy and heroism, including the story of kidnapped Israeli-American toddler Avigail Idan, who turned 4 in captivity but was released Sunday as part of the third round hostage swap between Hamas and Israel. Her parents were murdered directly before her eyes, with accounts saying her dad was holding her when he was shot.

After also being shown a short film of the Hamas attacks, Musk commented that it was "troubling" to see the "to see the joy experienced by people that were killing innocent civilians."

As part of Musk's visit, he and PM Netanyahu held a live talk via X Spaces (recently known as Twitter Spaces) wherein the prime minister repeated his call for Hamas to be destroyed. Musk responded, "There's no choice," and said after touring ravaged kibbutzes: "I'd like to help as well." The full section of that exchange is below:

Netanyahu laid out that his main priority is to neutralize Hamas, after which he will turn to rebuilding Gaza: "You first have to get rid of this poisonous regime."

Musk agreed and offered to be involved in the post-war recovery.

"I think that makes perfect sense that those who are intent on murder must be neutralized, then the propaganda must stop … and then making Gaza prosperous," Musk said.

"Well, I hope you’ll be involved," Netanyahu responded.

"I’d love to help," Musk said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/musk-offers-help-rebuild-deradicalized-prosperous-gaza-after-touring-ravaged-kibbutz

John Kirby Admits Biden Regime Has Limited Information on the Condition of American Hostages Held by Hamas Terrorists: “We Don’t Have a Whole Lot of Information About Them”

National Security Council Chief Spokesperson John Kirby revealed that the U.S. government has limited information on the condition and whereabouts of American hostages currently held in Gaza by Hamas militants. Despite the successful release of a young American girl, Abigail Idan, there are concerns for the remaining hostages whose situation remains unclear.

On Friday, Hamas terrorists released 13 Israeli hostages, including women and children. In a separate deal, Hamas released 12 Thai workers they captured on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel during their attack and massacre of 1,400 innocent civilians. There were no Americans.

On Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces, IDF, announced that Hamas released a second set of Israeli and Thai hostages.

According to the IDF, 13 Israeli and 4 Thai hostages were released. This was after Hamas delayed their release earlier Saturday. Again, no Americans were released.

On Sunday, the International Red Cross announced the latest release of Israeli hostages by Hamas. Hamas released 14 Israeli captives and 3 foreign nationals, including a 4-year-old American girl.

A 4-year-old Israeli-American girl with dual citizenship whose parents were killed was one of the hostages released on Sunday.

Joe Biden on Sunday delivered remarks on the release of Israeli and American hostages by Hamas terrorists. He went off-script and made a creepy comment about 4-year-old Abigail Edan during his remarks to reporters.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/11/biden-spokesman-john-kirby-admits-regime-has-limited/

Greta Thunberg Caught on Video Going Full Anti-Semite, Chanting ‘Crush Zionism’: Report

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/11/greta-thunberg-caught-video-going-full-anti-semite/

PHOTOS: Argentina’s Javier Milei Visits the Ohel, Gravesite of Lubavitcher Rebbe, Before Meeting U.S. Officials

Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei on Monday visited the burial site of the the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, as the first stop of his visit to the United States, ahead of his meetings with U.S. officials.

Milei arrived at the cemetery, located in Queens, New York, just after 9 A.M. with his entourage, where he met Rabbi Simon Jacobson, who has become somewhat of an informal advisor and mentor. Milei was visibly emotional when he met Rabbi Jacobson at the entrance of the site, and they went together to pray at the grave.

The Libertarian Populist Milei is an ardent admirer of Judaism, and has even studied the Torah and considered converting to the Jewish faith from Catholicism, Breitbart News reported.

Jacobson told Breitbart News that Milei called him after Shabbat to notify him that he would be visiting the Ohel (the name of the Schneerson burial site) Monday morning.

Milei has repeatedly vowed that he would dramatically change Argentina’s foreign policy, currently oriented under leftist rule towards China, Russia, and Iran, as Breitbart previously reported.

Rabbi Jacobson told Breitbart that he believes there is divine intervention at play in Milei’s election, amid the turmoil in the Middle East, stoked and funded by Iran.

“We were speaking earlier, I was sitting with him for breakfast, and I said to him that, ‘you’re here at the Ohel, it’s historic times now with everything going on in Israel, and all the chaos.’ To have a leader like him, if he shows an example, he can have influence on all the leaders of the countries of the world. Because leadership is lacking, and he can be that, kind of, moral example,” Jacobson said. “He could change the world.”

“I find it serendipitous here, that in the middle of all that’s going on in the Middle East, in Israel, and here we are, and he becomes president, an underdog, and in a landslide win— there’s a lot of elements that sound to me like there’s some type of deeper choreography, an invisible hand at work,” Jacobson continued, adding that he is “honored to be part of it.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/11/27/photos-argentinas-javier-milei-visits-the-ohel-gravesite-of-lubavitcher-rebbe-before-meeting-u-s-officials/

Schumer: Senate Priority for Ukraine, Israel Funding Next Week, No Border Security Cash.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has informed the Senate through a ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ they will be taking up supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel the week of December 4th. According to Schumer’s letter the Senate will likely not include any of the Republican controlled House language (H.R.2) on border security – Schumer referred to the House plan as “partisan” and “hard-right” in his letter. “The biggest holdup to the national security assistance package right now is the insistence by our Republican colleagues on partisan border policy as a condition for vital Ukraine aid. This has injected a decades old, hyper-partisan issue into overwhelmingly bipartisan priorities,” Schumer wrote. “Democrats stand ready to work on common-sense solutions to address immigration, but purely partisan hard-right demands, like those in H.R. 2, jeopardize the entire national security supplemental package.”

Senate Democrats and the Biden White House are insistent the supplemental aid for Ukraine and Israel be passed as a single legislative package. They fear the collapsing support for Ukraine in the United States could embolden House Republicans to pass a funding supplemental for Israel while leaving Ukraine funding to languish. Since September, Biden has been pushing lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take up a massive funding proposal for Ukraine – with cash for Israel added to the plan after the barbaric October terrorist attack by Hamas. For House Republicans, a robust border security plan is a must if they’re to take up any defense supplemental. Republican voters have indicated in poll-after-poll the need to Congress to increase border protections and funding to end the illegal-immigration crisis which continues to cause fiscal and social strain on cities across the U.S.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/11/27/schumer-senate-priority-for-ukraine-israel-funding-next-week-no-border-security-cash/

‘All Allies Agree’ Ukraine Will Join NATO, Says Alliance Boss

NATO reaffirms its long-term support for Ukraine and says its members all agree the nation will join the alliance, but not while the war is ongoing, and not before it has reformed.

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg again spoke of NATO membership for Ukraine as a definite matter — despite previous dissent from within the alliance — as he spoke of a forthcoming meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council this week.

“Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO”, Stoltenberg said as he said discussions this week would focus on “priority reforms” for the country to make it fit to join the organisation. Recent direct support for Ukraine cited by the Norwegian politician turned alliance leader included the air defence coalition, billions in new funding, and the opening of the F-16 training centre in Romania for Ukrainian pilots.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/11/27/all-allies-agree-ukraine-will-join-nato-says-alliance-boss/

Judge Allows Lawsuit To Proceed Against Biden For Allegedly Aiding Palestinian Terrorists

“America First Legal (AFL) first filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken resumed payments to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that former President Trump ended in order to be in compliance with the Taylor Force Act—a federal law that prohibits the government from sending American taxpayer dollars to the PA until it stops supporting terrorism,” Fox News reported.

“The lawsuit claims the Biden administration has transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars ‘to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority’ while admitting that the PA still operates its” program, the outlet continued.

U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, found last week that AFL’s “recent production of records shows that the Government knew its economic support fund (ESF) funding in the West Bank and Gaza was benefiting Palestinian terrorists, thereby ‘increasing the risk of terrorist attacks against the Plaintiffs and others similarly situated.’”

https://conservativebrief.com/judge-allows-78779/

WHO Calls on China to Bring Back Lockdowns to Tackle Mystery Outbreak

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on Communist China to bring back lockdowns and other Covid-era restrictions to tackle a new outbreak of a mystery respiratory illness.

The WHO is pressuring the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to reinstate mask-wearing and social distancing, and issue stay-at-home orders for the public.

The timing of the outbreak is eerily reminiscent of Covid, which first emerged in China this time in 2019, just under one year out from the 2020 election.

With this latest outbreak emerging just under one year out from the 2024 election, many are raising concerns that pandemic restrictions could also disrupt the next presidential race.

Hospitals in Beijing and the province of Liaoning, 500 miles northeast of the capital, have been detecting cases of “undiagnosed pneumonia.”

Local news also reports hospitals are “overwhelmed with sick children.”

The infected are showing signs of lung inflammation and a high fever, but no cough or other symptoms that signal the flu or RSV.

From the Daily Mail:

The WHO said it has now called on China to share data on these patients, recent trends in the circulation of viruses and pressures on hospitals.

The UN health agency said it is also in contact with medics and scientists in a bid to understand the situation.

In the meantime, it urged people in China to ‘follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness’.

These include ‘recommended vaccination; keeping distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation; and regular hand-washing’, the WHO said.

According to a Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) alert, the spike in illness in children remains a mystery.

https://slaynews.com/news/who-china-bring-back-lockdowns-tackle-mystery-outbreak/

French government takes aim at covid “conspiracy theorists” and complementary and alternative medicine in draft bill to combat sects

In mid-November, the French Senate reviewed a draft law that aims to crush dissent using hefty fines of up to EUR 15,000 and threat of jail time. Anyone daring to criticise medical treatments could fall foul of this law. Considering the “covid vaccines are safe and effective” false narrative propagated by the government, this law is nothing short of outrageous.

The French Parliament is made up of two chambers, the National Assembly and the Senate. Bills are examined by both Houses of Parliament. Because both houses may amend the bill, it may take several readings to reach an agreement between the National Assembly and the Senate.

The Secretary of State for Citizenship and the City, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, presented a bill to the Senate aimed at strengthening the existing legislative arsenal to combat sects. At the top of the draft legislation are the words:

BILL

(fast-track procedure)

aimed at strengthening the fight against sectarian excesses [Their emphasis].

Fight against sectarian excesses, Bills tabled for 15 November, Senate

The bill is aimed at strengthening the fight against sectarian excesses specifically in health. On announcing a renewal of their partnership with the national council of physicians, Conseil Ordre Des Médecins (“CNOM”), the Inter-ministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses (“MIVILUDES”) said:

Given the public’s enthusiasm for therapeutic practices that are not scientifically validated, the search for well-being and personal development, and due to the rise of training courses awarding diplomas not recognised by the State, patients may find themselves abused or exposed to therapeutic abuses, particularly sectarian ones.

Sectarian excesses in health: MIVILUDES and CNOM renew their partnership, MIVILUDES, 29 September 2023

In the Larousse, “sectarian” is defined as “a follower of a religious or philosophical doctrine, and, in particular, a member of a sect, of a dissident faction of a religion”.

For MIVILUDES, “it is a misuse of freedom of thought, opinion or religion that undermines public order, laws or regulations, fundamental rights, security or the integrity of persons.”

Sectarian abuses or “excesses” have been on the rise in recent years, since the rise of social media but especially during the covid crisis. The number of reports exploded in 2021 due to “conspiracy theories and alternative medicine.”

French information website Actu.fr noted criteria that characterise the risk of sectarian excesses:

mental destabilisation;

the exorbitant nature of the financial requirements;

breaking with the original environment;

the existence of attacks on physical integrity;

the recruitment of children;

anti-social discourse;

disturbances of public order;

the importance of legal troubles;

the possible diversion of traditional economic circuits; and,

attempts to infiltrate the authorities.

It should be noted that a single criterion “is not sufficient to establish the existence of a sectarian excess and all criteria do not have the same value. However, the first criterion (mental destabilisation) is always present in cases of sectarian excesses,” MIVILUDES said.

https://expose-news.com/2023/11/27/french-government-takes-aim-at/

Hunter Biden’s Chinese Firm Brokered Illicit Weapons Deals For Qatar And Libya, Which Fund & Arm Hamas.

Officials from a Chinese Communist Party conglomerate linked to President Joe Biden’s son and high-level foreign policy advisors to the White House conspired to illegally sell weapons to Qatar – a prominent financial backer of Hamas – and Libya, which has funneled arms to the Palestinian terrorist group.

The company, CEFC China Energy, counted President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, as its Managing Director and has hosted the current National Security Council Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell as a keynote speaker at its events. Campbell has been identified as Biden’s "Asia Czar.”

Revealed in the indictment of Gal Luft, a whistleblower against the Biden family, members of CEFC China Energy can be seen engaging in and serving as intermediaries for illicit arms trafficking to countries including Qatar and Libya.

Qatar is the key financial backer and ally of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, funneling billions of dollars to support the Muslim Brotherhood group. Hamas has also frequently used weapons from Islamist groups in Libya.

As revealed in Luft’s indictment, CEFC China Energy members engaged illicit trafficking of arms to countries including Libya and Qatar. Luft often referenced the weapons as “toys” in correspondence evidenced in the indictment.

Patrick Ho, the Director of CEFC China Energy whom Hunter Biden has described as his personal business partner and also the “spy chief of China,” sent Luft an email in April 2015 with the subject line “Shopping lists,” writing about Qatar’s weaponry needs:

“It so turns out that Qatar also needs urgently a list of toys from us. But the same reason that we had for Libya, we cannot sell directly to them. Is there a way you could act as an intermediary in both cases? Could you ask your man to see if he is willing?”

“Qatar good chance be there is no embargo. Libya is another case be going against an embargo is tricky,” replied Luft. Ho followed up stressing Qatar’s “urgent” need for weapons, adding he’d be meeting with “their chief” to discuss the matter:

“Qatar needs toys quite urgently. Their chief is coming to China and we hope to give them a piece of good news. Please confirm soonest.”

Luft appeared to find a middleman for the deal, writing “Looks like we have a middleman for Q[atar]. African. I will get final approval tomorrow. Need the name of the supplier and the list so we can issue an end user agreement. The shipment can go direct from China to Q preferably via sea. Pls advise.”

Ho inquired about who the “middleman” was, prompting Luft to reply “Its going to be Romania. pls send me the 1 for the end user.”

Similar conversations transpired concerning the sale of arms to Libya, with Luft attempting to broker deals for weapons including anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers, and mortar rounds.

While the outcome of the deals remain unclear, the ties between CEFC China Energy, illicit arms trafficking, and the Biden family and personnel raise questions about whether or not these weapons ever ended up in the hands of Hamas.

The involvement of CEFC China Energy in illicit arms trafficking has been acknowledged by the mainstream media, though Hunter Biden’s ties to the company are routinely omitted. As USA Today writes:

“Luft also acted as a broker or middleman to find both buyers and sellers of certain weapons and other materials, without a license to do so as required under U.S. law, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. That included working to broker a deal for Chinese companies to sell certain weapons to Libya, including anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers, and mortar rounds, which Luft and his associates referred to in coded language as "toys,” according to the Justice Department.

The indictment also alleges that Luft worked to broker deals for certain weapons to be sold to the United Arab Emirates, including aerial bombs and rockets, and for certain weapons to be sold by a Chinese company to Kenya, including unmanned aerial “strike” vehicles or drones.

At one point, during a voluntary interview with U.S. law enforcement in which he was asked questions about his involvement in arms trafficking, Luft “made multiple false statements, including that he had not sought to engage in or profit from arms deals.”

https://warroom.org/hunter-biden-firm-sold-weapons-to-hamas-backer-qatar/

Hamas Isn't The Target, It's The Excuse

If you’re just tuning in, Israeli intelligence ignored mountains of information that the October 7 attack was coming and left Israelis completely undefended, then the IDF killed significant numbers of Israelis with indiscriminate fire and pinned the blame for 100% of Israeli deaths on Hamas, and all those deaths are now being used as justification to push Gazans off their land to the south and shoot them if they try to return while Israeli officials keep talking about how great it would be to get all Palestinians out of all of Gaza.

Such a crazy coincidence how every single step of Israel’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza has looked exactly the same as what you’d expect to see if Israel was trying to permanently drive Palestinians off a large stretch of Palestinian land.

❖

This isn’t a war against Hamas. It’s not a war at all. It’s a military operation to facilitate an ethnic cleansing.

Hamas aren’t the targets, it’s the excuse.

❖

Israel isn’t bombing Gaza with the intention of wiping out Hamas, Israel is bombing Gaza with the intention of wiping out Gaza.

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/hamas-isnt-the-target-its-the-excuse

Moscow places Meta spokesman on wanted list

A criminal case has been launched against staff at the US company over calls for violence against Russians

Andy Stone, spokesman for the Meta tech conglomerate, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been placed on a wanted list in Russia, according to the database of the country’s Interior Ministry.

Izvestia, Ria-Novosti and other Russian media outlets reported on Sunday that Stone’s name can now be found on the database. His file reads that the US citizen is sought over a criminal case, but reveals no further details.

Meta was branded an extremist organization in Russia shortly after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. Its apps, Facebook and Instagram, were blocked in the country for allowing hate speech against Russian nationals and for distributing what had been deemed false content about Moscow’s military. WhatsApp avoided restrictions due to being classed as solely a communication tool.

In March 2022, Reuters reported after reviewing Meta’s internal emails that the company had decided to temporarily relax its rules in some countries to allow Facebook and Instagram users to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the country’s military operation in Ukraine.

https://swentr.site/russia/588001-meta-spokesman-wanted-ukraine/

PUTIN ASKS THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

1. Are there any sanctions against ISRAEL for the murder and destruction of innocent Palestinian women and children?

1. Are there any sanctions against AMERICA for killing and destroying the lives of innocent women and children in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Cuba, and Vietnam, and even stealing their diamonds and gold?

1. Were there any sanctions against AMERICA/FRANCE over the killing of Muammar Ghaddafi and the destruction of Libya?

1. Has there ever been an American/NATO soldier ever been punished for raping and torturing innocent women/children of all the aforementioned countries?

1. Are there sanctions against FRANCE for causing crisis and unrest in several African countries? These are very war crimes America and NATO should be punished.

Maybe it’s time we understand that NATO, the USA and all their allies are the most dangerous evils of our time. So, we need to change the balance of power in the world – ensure everyone has equal rights and stop the oppressors.

https://europerenaissance.com/2023/11/26/putin-asks-the-important-questions/

Israeli Protesters Storm Netanyahu's Home; Fume Over Hostage Crisis, War In Gaza

https://youtu.be/ROsA2-cW_lc

The Complete List of 1030 Jewish Expulsions in Human History

https://rense.com/general97/The-Complete-List-of-the-1030-Jewish-Expulsions-in-Human-History.pdf

Atlantic Council: A Hidden Hand Censoring the Internet and Pushing the US Toward War

Front and center in the suppression of speech challenging the New Underworld Order is a sinister “international affairs think tank” known as the Atlantic Council (AC). The AC is highly active in the Russia-Ukraine narrative. Last week, one Fred Kempe, AC’s CEO, appeared on CNBC predicting Putin will likely to move forces into Ukraine over the weekend (Feb 12 and 13). Other AC flunkies left the invasion window open for a few more days, all duly reported in the Lugenpresse.

AC is engaged in every sketchy policy on the planet. With momentum fading for vaccines and mandates, the Council on Feb. 1 published a piece called “Vaccinate the World.”

The AC has been deeply involved with pushing the Russiagate and “everyone is a Putin puppet” narrative. An example of this is PropOrNot, a website that claims to expose Russian propaganda. Two independent researchers attempted to identify the clandestine group behind PropOrNot and published their findings online. First, data forensics identified the owners, then they used linguistic analysis. Both pieces of research independently came to the conclusion: The main man behind PropOrNot is the Atlantic Council’s Michael Weiss.

Weiss is an author, the senior editor for The Daily Beast, a columnist for Foreign Policy and a frequent national security contributor for CNN. He’s also editor in chief of The Interpreter, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and co-chairs the Russia Studies Center at the Henry Jackson Society.

Then there is Crowdstrike, the security company that examined the DNC’s email server and then told the FBI who hacked it. This explored the allegation that the hacks leading to Wikileak’s releases of DNC and Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s emails were orchestrated by the Russian government. Crowdstrike CEO and co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

The Council early on found a niche as “center for get togethers” of leaders from both sides of the Atlantic, with members working to develop “networks of continuing communication.”

The AC is also a revolving door of fifth-column neocon apparatchiks for the military-diplomacy-surveillance-bankster state. Paul Craig Roberts calls it the marketing arm of the military-security complex. For example, in February 2009, James L. Jones, then-chairman of the Atlantic Council, stepped down in order to serve as President Obama’s new National Security Advisor and was succeeded by Sen. Chuck Hagel. Four years later, Hagel stepped down to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense.

https://www.winterwatch.net/2023/11/atlantic-council-a-hidden-hand-censoring-the-internet-and-pushing-the-us-toward-war/

The Hidden Role of the Rothschilds in the Creation of Israel: Jacob Rothschild… "My family created Israel" (video)

https://amg-news.com/the-hidden-role-of-the-rothschilds-in-the-creation-of-israel-jacob-rothschild-my-family-created-israel-video/

Eustace Mullins - Murder by Injection (Full Length)

Eustace Mullins (1923-2010), discusses one of his best-selling books; 'Murder by Injection' exposing the unholy dynasty of the big drug companies, the medical establishment, the Rockefeller syndicate and the evils of the cut-slash-and-burn cancer racket that has killed millions in the name of 'fighting cancer.'

While there are many books on the corruption of modern medicine, there is no other book out there that so effectively tells the whole story as does this seminal volume, laying bare the criminal machinations of those who profit in the name of "promoting good health." The federal bureaucracy that ostensibly "regulates" the big drug companies is all part and parcel of the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWkqSncY3fg

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'

We need to let go of the conceit that without their deployments, security in those regions would collapse.

The regional reverberations of the Israel-Gaza war demonstrate why the White House should scrap, not reinforce, America’s outdated and unnecessarily provocative troop presence in Syria and Iraq.

President Joe Biden should redeploy these forces to a safer position offshore and leave it to self-interested Syrians and Iraqis to prevent ISIS from reemerging. As Biden’s own policy on Afghanistan demonstrated — and as I observed on the ground earlier this fall — withdrawing U.S. soldiers and Marines can bolster American security by turning the fight against Islamic State over to well-motivated local belligerents while freeing up U.S. personnel to serve in more vital areas.

Likewise, pivoting out of Syria and Iraq will not make Americans any less safe, but it will deny local militias, and their presumptive patrons in Iran, the chance to use unneeded outposts for leverage over our national strategy.

Since October 17, some 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq have been taking fire from Iran-linked militias and, subsequently, drawing retaliatory air support, including an attack by a C-130 gunship that killed eight members of the Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq last week. The U.S. service members are the lingering footprint of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in 2015 to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and succeeded in 2019 in eliminating the physical ISIS caliphate, thereby reducing ISIS to “a survival posture” without territory.

Rather than taking the win and packing up, the Trump and Biden administrations kept in place some troops, who have become a recurring target of opportunity for Iran and its surrogates during moments of tension. In the past five weeks, the Iran-linked militants’ rockets and one-way attack drones have injured over sixty of these Americans.

The prolonged American deployment, driven by policy inertia more than strategic necessity, has added tinder to a potential U.S.-Iranian conflagration that would eclipse the Israel-Gaza War. One Pentagon official has remarked in defiance, “Iran’s objective… has been to force a withdrawal of the U.S. military from the region… What I would observe is that we’re still there [in Iraq and Syria].”

This reluctance to relinquish former ISIS territory to independently-minded governments recapitulates the mindset that made the Afghanistan and Iraq wars so unnecessarily costly. Rather than cutting its losses, the White House and Pentagon have doubled down, with two aircraft carrier groups in the Eastern Mediterranean, an airstrike on an Iran-linked weapons depot in Syria, and an additional 1,200 troops for staffing regional air defenses, and now strikes inside Iraq — over the objections of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose coalition is linked to Kataib Hezbollah.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-troops-in-iraq-and-syria/