The three-star U.S. general dispatched to Israel to advise the country on the risks to a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip had returned stateside as of last week, a senior defense official confirmed Monday.
Israel in recent days has ramped up its ground operations in the Gaza Strip, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as the second phase of its war against Hamas. Its air force also continues to pound targets in the enclave, causing mounting civilian casualties.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Glynn, whom the Pentagon sent to Israel earlier this month to counsel the Israeli military, was back in the United States on Thursday evening, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith first told reporters Friday.
The current deputy commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Glynn was previously the head of Marine Forces Special Operations Command and boasts significant experience with urban warfare in Iraq — first in Fallujah in 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, then later in Mosul to expel Islamic State militants.
He was part of a group of U.S. military advisers sent to Israel ahead of the country’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, a bid meant to push officials toward using precision airstrikes and targeted special operations raids, rather than engage in a bloody urban fight.
“Jim’s home; I talked to him last night,” Smith said. “Lt. Gen. Glynn went over to provide advice. But make no mistake: What is, has or will unfold in Gaza is purely an Israeli decision.”
He added that Glynn “provided his expertise as the lead planner for a first marine expeditionary force going into the battle of Fallujah,” and that what he relayed can “be taken, [or] not taken.”
On Monday, a senior defense official confirmed Glynn’s return, saying the trip was only temporary and was “intended to offer observations informed by extensive military expertise and pose hard questions to the [Israel Defense Forces] as they think through various scenarios” of a ground invasion of Gaza.
The official added: “The Israel Defense Forces will, as always, make its own decisions about its military operations. I want to be clear here: U.S. military officials are not directing nor advising operations.”
Israel has vowed to retaliate against Hamas for a surprise Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,400 Israelis and captured more than 200 hostages, including several Americans.
Israel has since pounded Gaza with rockets, reportedly killing more than 8,000 civilians, and has also called up roughly 360,000 reservists and positioned many at the border with Gaza.
The United States, however, has urged Israel against a full-scale ground assault due to concern that urban combat would endanger civilians and the remaining hostages, as well as worsen tensions in the Middle East.