As if to remind people why there was a serious CIA program possibly aimed at assassinating members of al-Qaeda, bin Laden lieutenant Ayman Zawahiri has a new
“„“The South Waziristan operation is punitive in nature,” one [U.S. intelligence] official told The Long War Journal. “You won’t see COIN there, ” the official continued, referring to the counterinsurgency techniques of driving out insurgents, holding territory, and securing the local population.
“„“They think they can win this via the air, like the Israelis thought they could beat Hezbollah [in Lebanon in 2006],” the official observed.