What is clear is that the Middle East, which the White House hoped could be subordinated to higher priorities involving China and Ukraine, has now emerged as the most urgent challenge for American foreign policy. The Biden administration now recognizes “that it cannot achieve its strategic objectives in the Middle East without developing a more sustainable approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Just last spring, the Biden administration was on a substantially different path. “War brings opportunity," said Frank McKenzie, the retired Marine Corps general who led the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East. Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, said that the Friday strike was the largest military action the U.S. has launched against Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq since the Iraq war.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 05, 2024 11:01 UTC