Col. Cedric Leighton on Trump’s Pledge to Disarm Hamas: ‘It’s Going To Be Very Difficult … Unless You’re Physically Present on the Ground in Gaza’

EXCERPT:

LEIGHTON: “I think one of the key things that Donald Trump is thinking about here is possibly using standoff weapons like drones and weapons that we can fire off of aircraft, such as standoff missiles. That would be the kind of thing that would probably that he’d want to use. The problem with that, though, is the efficacy of something like that when you’re dealing with a foe like Hamas. And when you are looking at, you know, these — these groups that are going out as police forces, basically, and rounding up people that they allege are collaborators, it’s going to be very difficult to disarm those people unless you’re physically present on the ground in Gaza. President Trump has said before, that we are not going to put U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza, this is going to be a real test of that, because if we’re not doing it, then the only other force that’s capable of doing that right now is the Israeli military. And of course, that brings up a whole other set of — of issues at — at this point.”