WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — The top two U.S. military leaders are traveling to Tel Aviv to advise the Israeli government on how to make a transition from major combat operations against Hamas in Gaza to a more limited and precise campaign.
Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, served in leadership roles as U.S. airpower and ground forces moved from major combat to lower-intensity counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is uncertain how deeply their advice from lessons learned will resonate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
Earlier in his Army career, Austin oversaw the drawdown of forces in Iraq in 2011. He visited Israel days after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and has spoken to Gallant, his Israeli counterpart, more than two dozen times since then.
In his meetings in Israel, he is likely to continue discussions on how Israelis define different military campaign milestones, to be able to assess when they will have sufficiently degraded Hamas to ensure their own security and shift from major combat operations, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters traveling with Austin.
The trip highlights increased efforts by the Biden administration to convince Israel it should revise its offensive.
Israel’s push has been complicated by the dense urban population and Hamas' network of tunnels, and the militants are accused of using civilians as “human shields.”
U.S. officials have been telling Israel that its window is closing for concluding major combat operations in Gaza without risking the loss of support.
On Thursday, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, urged Netanyahu to shift to a more-targeted strategy by smaller military teams hunting specific high-value targets, rather than broad bombardment that has occurred so far.
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