At the meeting, the attitude of officials and generals was highly consistent, and they all said that they should immediately launch a counterattack, recover the Sunni areas controlled by the rebels, capture Baghdad, control the whole territory, completely eliminate the Karim regime, and completely eliminate all foreign enemies who invaded Iraq.

There is no need to mobilize at all, let alone do ideological work.

There's nothing to say, just hit!

This time, Wang Dong remained silent.

Although he has never been in the company of politicians, it would be wrong to say that Wang Dong has no political acumen.

Can Sunni Iraqis sit idly by while the Karim regime persecutes?

No!

Because this is related to the foundation of the Razak regime, affects the status of Razak in the eyes of the people, and even determines the legitimacy of the Razak regime.

If nothing is done, the Razak regime will lose the basis for its continued existence.

What can be done?

A counterattack, of course, to retake the Sunni homeland, to retake Baghdad, to retake all of Iraq, until the Karim regime is completely eliminated.

Having unified the position, the next step was to discuss combat operations.

Now, something interesting happened.

The generals who were impassioned before were all shrunken turtles, saying that their troops were still training and had no combat capability to speak of.

To put it bluntly, they are not willing to charge.

The reason is also very simple, these generals all want to save their troops, and they all want to climb on the shoulders of others, and not become a stepping stone for others.

Isn't it cannon fodder to lead troops to launch a counterattack?

What's more, there are already two infantry brigades stationed in Nasiriyah, and they are the first two to complete training, and the commander is still a close confidant of Razak.

It is reasonable to assume that these two brigades should be charging ahead.

Obviously, when he sent those two infantry brigades to Nasiriyah and arranged for his cronies to replace Nanijal, Razak certainly did not expect such an outcome.

Even if Razak was reluctant, it was impossible to fight against all the generals.

In addition, Razak was a prime minister, not a general, and did not have much say in combat operations, and he could not find a plausible reason to refute it.

As a result, two infantry brigades stationed in Nasiriyah marched to Semavo as the vanguard.

And then what?

Obviously, no one expected to recapture Semavo from the rebels with two infantry brigades without heavy equipment, let alone fight all the way to Baghdad.

Air support is certainly indispensable.

In front of many generals, Razak consulted Wang Dong's opinion.

Quite simply, all the Saudi-aided fighters were deployed at Basra airport, the pilots were contract employees of the company "Angu", and the ammunition was also provided by the Saudis.

The number of fighters has increased to 36 and in a few days it will reach 48.

Of these, 24 are JF-17s, the rest are A-5PG Mountain Eagle attack aircraft.

The A-5PG is actually Huaxia's Q-5III attack aircraft, and the suffix "P" stands for Pakistan, while the "G" means improved.

Pakistan purchased these attack aircraft from China in the early 80s of the last century, and made minor improvements at the beginning of this century, mainly adding avionics using precision-guided munitions, until the JF-17 entered service in large quantities, and the A-5PG was the main attack aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force.

These attack aircraft were given away free of charge by Pakistan.

Quite simply, the last A-5PG was retired from the Pakistan Air Force a few years ago, and dozens of the better ones were mothballed.

An old plane like this, which has been used for decades, is usually given away for nothing, and no one wants it.

Of course, Iraq now is not "normal".

In the battle to defend Nasiriyah, the Royal Saudi Air Force exposed its lack of close support capabilities, otherwise it would not have allowed Pakistan to deliver 24 JF-17s ahead of schedule.

The problem is that the JF-17 is a multi-role fighter, not a specialized attack aircraft.

During those days, 24 JF-17s dropped thousands of small-diameter bombs, which severely damaged the rebels but also nearly depleted their stocks.

Just these laser-guided small-diameter bombs have a total value of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Of course, for local tyrants, money is not an issue.

The biggest problem is that the production of large ammunition factories under the Royal Saudi Arsenal cannot keep up, and it will take at least a month to replenish the stocks.

Obviously, the JF-17 is not a substitute for a specialized attack aircraft.

For this reason, Saudi Arabia got these A-5PGs from Pakistan, and after completing the necessary maintenance, they were thrown to Wang Dong in one go.

Fortunately, the A-5PG is not very electronic, and it is known for its durability.

In addition, Pakistan still has a lot of spare parts in stock that have not been destroyed, enough for dozens of A-5PGs to consume for several years, and there is no problem with maintenance.

As for the pilots, it's even better.

Because the JF-17 is much smaller than the A-5PG and is not a one-to-one replacement, there are many A-5PG pilots who have retired from the Pakistan Air Force.

Although most of these pilots, like the A-5PG, are old, and the youngest ones are in their forties, they are all very good, and they can continue to fly the attack aircraft they are familiar with after retirement, and they can also get more than ten times higher pay than serving in the army, so why not.

According to the agreement, Pakistan will donate all 48 mothballed A-5PGs to Saudi Arabia within three months.

Due to the limited combat radius, the A-5PG can only be deployed at Basra airfield.

When the second batch of 12 A-5PGs arrives, these attack aircraft will take on the mission of close support, and return the JF-17 to business.

Although they are not advanced enough, and it can even be said that they are far behind the times, these attack aircraft are definitely the strongest in terms of their ability to provide close support.

Except for a slightly smaller bomb load, the A-5PG is no worse than the rebel Su-25 in all respects.

Compared to the F-16C/D of the government army, the A-5PG is much stronger and more efficient in close support missions.

Not to mention anything else, the A-5PG can bomb at ultra-low altitudes against ground anti-aircraft fire.

Does the F-16C/D dare?

Even with the use of unguided munitions, even with a 30-mm gun, the A-5PG is more capable of striking ground forces than fighters that drop bombs at high altitudes.

In fact, specialized attack aircraft like the A-5PG were originally created to deal with armored forces.

Whether it is the A-5PG, or the Russian Su-25, as well as the American A-10, the only value of existence is to strike at the enemy's ground forces.

It is this that the Su-25 is in service with Russia to this day, and the US Air Force has been improving the A-10 as well.

Wang Dong did not ramble and promised to provide air support to the counterattacking force, but he also made a request to put the Nasiriyah airfield back into service as soon as possible.

The reason is also very simple, the A-5PG must be deployed in front of the front in order to give full play to its combat effectiveness.

If deployed at Basra airport, the round-trip flight of just a few hundred kilometers would take a lot of time, and the A-5PG would have to carry more fuel and not be able to hang more bombs.

Now, a new question arises, that is, who is going to guard Nasiriyah?

The candidate is ready-made, that is, Major General Nanigel.

Because there were no competitors, Nanigel was again appointed "Commander-in-Chief of the Nasiriyah Garrison" and at the same time promoted to lieutenant general.