Scoop: Marine Corps 3-star general advising Israeli military on Gaza ground operation
The Biden administration recently sent a Marine three-star general and several other U.S. military officers to Israel to help advise the Israeli military’s leadership in its operation in Gaza, according to two U.S. officials and two Israeli officials briefed on the issue.
Why it matters: The move reflects the Biden administration’s deep involvement in the war in Gaza and how much visibility it has in Israel’s military planning.
Behind the scenes: The Marine Corps officers sent include Lt. Gen. James Glynn, according to a senior Israeli official. Glynn previously headed the Marines’ special operations and was involved in the operations against ISIS in Iraq.
- Glynn and the other U.S. military officers are not directing operations but they do provide military advice to the IDF about its plans in Gaza. This has been primarily focused on Israel’s expected ground invasion. The American officers have shared lessons the U.S. has learned from fighting ISIS in Mosul.
- Glynn is not expected to stay in Israel to follow the IDF ground invasion, sources with direct knowledge of the issue said.
What they are saying: “We have asked several officials with relevant experience simply to help Israeli officials think through the difficult questions ahead and explore their options. The IDF will, as always, make its own decisions,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Axios.
- White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a briefing on Monday that there “are a few U.S. military officers with relevant experience to the operation the Israelis are conducting that are over there to share their perspective and to ask hard questions — the same hard questions we have been asking our Israeli counterparts since the beginning.”
The big picture: Secretary of State Tony Blinken told CBS on Sunday that the Biden administration is talking to Israeli officials about their military plans for Gaza and how best to achieve their desired results.
- “We give them our best advice. It’s important, as we said, not only what they do, but how they do it, particularly when it comes to making sure that civilians are as protected as they possibly can be in this crossfire of Hamas’ making,” Blinken said.
- Since the beginning of the war, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Erik Kurilla, head of the U.S. Central Command, have each visited Israel and met Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF leadership.
- Austin continues to speak to Gallant by phone.
State of play: Israel has been preparing for a ground offensive in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, saying its goal is to “destroy” the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and other countries.
- It’s unclear when Israel will launch the operation, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously acknowledged the war will likely be “long and difficult.”
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GUNS N GEAR
Horse Crap…Israel doesn’t need our help or “Advising” taking down Gaza or the West Bank.
They have had that Contingency (War Game) Plan and Variations of it, most likely for Decades.
Israel just pulled out, a Version or some Amalgamation of afew different versions.
I don’t think Israel has a workable plan for either Gaza or Lebanon. If they had anything workable aside from the Curtis LeMay option, they would be doing it and not just sitting there. Someone pointed out that Iwo Jima was 8 sq miles of tunnels covered in sand, and Gaza is 140 Sq miles of tunnels under an enormous metro area, Stalingrad + Iwo Jima if you will. I believe the IDF knows that their maneuver units are no longer of the highest quality and have little chance of prevailing in either location. They are still organized and equipped to outmaneuver and defeat other professional tank armies, not dug in militants with massive terrain advantage and modern weapons. To be fair, there is no army in existence in the entire Western Alliance that could root Hezbollah out of the Lebanese mountains, which isn’t stopping Israel from trying to sucker the US into attempting it for them.
Some surprises in store for everyone?
– The IDF has its armor parked in administrative rows out in the open and the M-109 Howitzers on both fronts are in the same wide open firing positions they use every time one of these rounds of fighting breaks out. Hamas may or may not have enough drones to make them pay, but I’m willing to bet Hezbollah does.
– I recall that Hezbollah had been working on a massive infiltration plan for Galilee similar to what Hamas pulled off. The IDF has been worried about that for years. If that happens, it will be more serious than the Hamas raid and could look a lot like the North Korean infiltrator raids below the DMZ in the 1960’s
– The export version of the Russian Yakhont ASM Hezbollah has in its arsenal can reach out to about the west side of Cyprus in the Eastern Med. If the Russians upgrade them with the non-export version, the range will be doubled out to beyond Crete. The Ford and Ike CBG’s have been careful to stay beyond the range of the known export variants. Good thing the Russians have no incentive to sink one or more of our capital ships by providing advanced weapons and targeting data to a proxy.
– There are probably more Shiite militias deployed upon the Syrian side of the Golan cease fire line than there are SAA regulars. Don’t expect that front to stay inactive if the rest start up.
If it’s anything like the ‘advice’ they gave Ukraine the Israelis would do well to put these dopes in a hotel with some women. The guys who took Mariupol last year might be more useful .
Wars for the FUSA always begin with sending in military advisors. Of course, the US military is silent regarding the invasion occurring at the southern border. The military industrial complex is jumping with joy! Who is John Galt?