Gaza War Brings US Troops Back to the Middle East*

*Editor’s note: On March 4, 2022, Russia enacted a law that criminalizes public opposition to, or independent news reporting about, the war in Ukraine. The law makes it a crime to call the war a “war” rather than a “special military operation” on social media or in a news article or broadcast. The law is understood to penalize any language that “discredits” Russia’s use of its military in Ukraine, calls for sanctions or protests Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It punishes anyone found to spread “false information” about the invasion with up to 15 years in prison.

The new channel of aid to Palestine is a sign of crisis in the approaches to conflict resolution.

After opening the new sea corridor to supply Gaza with aid, the U.S. and its allies have announced plans to build a floating dock and a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian assistance to the region’s residents. This operation is closely linked to the increasing presence of the U.S. military in the Middle East, as the construction project will involve up to 1,000 American troops. Pentagon officials are confident that the new structures will be operational within two months. It’s currently unclear whether the troops will remain in the region following this deployment, and U.S. officials have stated that the units will stay off the Gaza coast during the construction phase. However, this move again puts the U.S. military in a zone of full-scale armed conflict.

Ever since the new phase of conflict began between Israel and Hamas, the White House has been cautious about revealing the extent of U.S. military involvement in Gaza. The United States limited its public engagement in the conflict to conducting surveillance operations in Gaza using drones, and Joe Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv in October, where he met with members of Delta Force — an elite special operations unit within the U.S. military.

In media briefings, White House officials referred to Delta Force’s involvement in the search for Israeli hostages as one of the largest deployments in the modern history of the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command.

The idea behind the floating dock, which will be able to receive up to 2 million meals a day, is undoubtedly humanitarian in nature. This initiative is likely aimed at mitigating the failure of Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition to protect civilians in Gaza.

Nevertheless, despite the mission’s humanitarian objectives, the U.S. is ultimately sending a significant military force to the region. This force is expected to be larger than the current number of American troops in Syria, which is estimated to be around 900. Therefore, this move could exacerbate the ongoing conflict, just as the American presence did in Iraq and Afghanistan. And this is precisely what Biden has conspicuously sought to avoid during his presidency.

Therefore, this new initiative undermines Biden’s statements, in which he questioned “endless military deployments.”

During a press briefing, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder addressed concerns about the safety of U.S. troops off the coast of Gaza and acknowledged that there is “certainly a risk” of Hamas attacking them. However, he also added that “if Hamas truly does care about the Palestinian people, then again, one would hope that this international mission to deliver aid to people who need it would be able to happen unhindered.”

It’s worth mentioning, of course, that in addition to Hamas, other groups are operating in Gaza that are far less cooperative.

In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. established a global order that relied on military presence and the use or threat of real military force to resolve regional conflicts. However, the recent attempts of the Biden administration to resolve the Gaza conflict through appeals, lectures, and political and diplomatic pressure have shown that this approach is ridiculously ineffective. Therefore, as regional conflicts continue to become increasingly militarized, the global community’s inability to resolve them will also grow. Neither the U.N. nor the U.S. can bring peace any closer.

Thus, it is necessary to recognize the urgent need for a new mechanism to prevent and resolve regional conflicts, managed by responsible, intelligent and mature individuals rather than relying on the whims of celebrities and obsolete practices of the old guard.