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no bull and the aftermath.

We have seen a number of these actions in recent years.

There's always framed as deterrent actions, yet their deterrent effect is not entirely

self-evident.

Certainly, these militia groups are continuing to undertake these attacks at a significant

enough pace to warrant these military responses.

The United States has in response, particularly since the January 2020 killing of Kassam

Salamani Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who has killed in the US

drone strike along with a number of senior officials from one of these militias, Kathab

and Zbalah.

You know, since then, we have seen the security situation interacted here substantially

that combined with the global pandemic and perhaps some progress in the counter-ISO-offensive,

counter-Islamic state offensive has led the United States' coalition partners to significantly

reduce their presence in Iraq, both at troop level-wise and in terms of the facilities

they maintain to be a little more secure.

And so I think there are good questions to be raised here saying how effective is this

strategy of deterrent?

Now, I think probably many people in the Department of Defense and also I would say there is a

...