First, I want to talk to you a little bit about what is on the table with these discussions between the Biden administration and this key confidence to Bibi. Can they get somewhere, do you think, on having a sense of the next phase of the war being lower intensity and that may be being sooner as the US wants it to be?

I think so. Look, Israel is listening essentially to one party, and that's the United States, this administration. They admire and they respect Israel. They admire and respect and are thankful for the support the United States has provided Israel in this ongoing fight. However, there are limitations, as we've seen. I think what Israel is trying to do is achieve an objective where they can go forward publicly and say mission accomplished, or at least mission accomplished close enough, and then realizing that there is still work to be done. But to stop the campaign that we've seen to date, which is heavy use of airstrikes, and attempt to be precise in their targeting, but clearly with the challenges that Hamas has presented in terms of using the Palestinians as human shields and to wrap themselves in the population within Egypt. That becomes a very tall order, as we've seen. I think they'd like to accelerate and then at some point, declare that they have accomplished what they want to accomplish, and then go about the business of trying to continue, acknowledge privately that they have to continue the operations to eradicate Hamas leadership and to continue to get after the infrastructure.

That's the inventory of weapon systems, ammunition, and the free use of the tunnel systems that Israel is now taking on as a primary objective. But also bear in mind, overarching all of this is what's the status of the hostages? When can they be returned? And realizing that's the toughest mission to accomplish because that's the leverage that Hamas retains.

Right. Over a hundred hostages still in Gaza and away from their families at this point. I want to broaden out for just a second to talk a little more about the region as a whole. The United States, the Biden administration has gone to great lengths to try to keep this war from expanding and spilling over and escalating in a way. Yet we've seen more than a hundred attacks on the US by these Iranian proxies. As Natasha was just reporting that the US is obviously striking back in certain instances, including this most recent one. Is this working in terms of trying to keep all of this at bay? And should we just continue? Will, do you think we'll just continue to keep seeing this play out as long as the Israel-Hamas war continues?

Yeah, the short answer is no and yes. We're probably going to see it continue to play out. And no, it's not sufficient. The United States understands this intimately. They've got to take the initiative and turn this into something more than a response to these strikes by the Iranian proxies. The solution to what's taking place in Gaza, and then the expanded, what I would call, provocations by these proxies, is the solutions in Tehran. And the United States has got to work an outside-in type of strategy. There has to be some punishing blows against the proxies that do exactly what you've described, prevent the expansion of the fight where Tehran feels like it is being threatened within its own borders. The United States really must put some punishing blows against the proxies. The Houtis, the Hezbollae in Lebanon, you've got to go after the that are in Iraq much more aggressively than we have right now. Certainly, we've got to keep the Iraqi surprised. But if they don't want us there, they can invite us to depart. That has to be something that really ramps up. Outside in is the strategy, I think, and this administration has to understand that.

One of these service members now in critical condition, which I think raises the specter, and I'm curious what you think about it of, when you have something creeping along that continuum, we're not just talking about not to diminish TBIs because they're serious, but we've seen some injuries that are not as bad as what we've seen in this particular strike that the US is retaliating for. What are your concerns if things get worse with what's happening to you as service members?

That's a very, very tough hurdle to cross. You understand this, Breonna, you're married to a soldier. Any one fatality, any one injury is unacceptable. And if we had no injuries as a result of the provocations from these proxies, that activity should be punished. Injuries should not be the standard by which we evaluate what type of a response or what type of an action we're going to take so that we can really take the initiative and get these proxies on their heels to get them worried about going to sleep at night, conducting operations, going to the market. They need to be concerned that the United States and its partners in the region are coming after them. It should not be the number of casualties that are being sustained by the United States because you just described it. One casualty then leads to two, and maybe those two casualties are okay, and we can get beyond it. Nonsense. There needs to be a very aggressive action on the part of the United States not measured against casualties.

All right, Major-General James Spider-Marx, as always, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Thank you.