US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown served in leadership roles as US air and ground forces shifted from major combat to less intense counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But it is not clear how deeply their advice, drawn from lessons learned, resonates with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The continuing intensity of the Israeli campaign on Gaza prompted US President Joe Biden to warn that the US ally was losing international support due to its “indiscriminate bombing.”
US officials told Israel several weeks ago that its window for ending major combat operations in Gaza without risking further loss of support was about to close.
In a meeting on Thursday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan urged Netanyahu to shift to more targeted operations in Gaza by smaller military teams pursuing specific, high-value targets, rather than the ongoing large-scale bombing that has been occurring so far.
In response, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that his country will continue major combat operations against Hamas for several more months.
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