WASHINGTON: US Defense Chief Lloyd Austin on Saturday asked Israel to protect civilian population as it battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He added that the protection of civilian population is necessary for win in the urban war.
His remarks come as was between Hamas and Israel restarted the day before following a week-long truce between the two parties collapsed. He also shared his experience in Iraq at Reagan National Defense Forum in California. He said that the lesson is that “you can only win in urban warfare by shielding civilian population”. The latest round of war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7. Israel land and air attacks on Gaza have killed over 15,000 people mostly women and children.
US Defense Secretary Says Israel must Protect Civilians in Gaza
According to AFP, those deaths have also provoked widespread anger in the Arab world and provided a motivation for groups to conduct strikes against US troops in the region and on Israel. Israel has faced missiles and drone attacks from Lebanon and Yemen, while US troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked in a series of assaults that have wounded dozens of US soldiers.
The US has blamed the assaults on its forces on some armed groups and replied with air strikes on several occasions in recent days. The US Defense Secretary Austin said that they would not tolerate assaults on US personnel and these strikes must stop.
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Earlier, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that since October 17 till today, they were tracking that there have been about 55 attacks on US troops. There have been around 27 assaults against US troops in Iraq and about 28 attacks in Syria,” Sabrina Singh added. According to Sabrina Singh as many as 59 US personnel were injured in these attacks.
