I really only find this interesting because of where it took place. We almost never do operations in Idlib:
It’s very similar to the raid that killed al-Baghdadi in 2019. Really complicated for us to put troops there in Idlib. I don’t actually care who the current head of ISIL is. We do the occasional drone strike but not actual operations using actual troops in Idlib. Curious on the specifics of this one.
Technically you didn’t answer my question. Are you, Thinkingman saying this was a “wag the dog” situation? Only ordered/approved for political reasons?
There is something to be said for timing. Kind of like October of 2019 when polling is low kill a terrorist…. But of course then it was huzzah dead terrorist…