The Syrian conflict looks like it will never end.
The U.S. government launched airstrikes on February 25, 2020 against a structure that allegedly belongs to an Iranian-backed militia. This was allegedly a calibrated response to rocket attacks against American targets in Iraq.
According to a Reuters report, the strikes were apparently limited in scope in order to prevent further escalation. At the moment, the Iraqi government is conducting an investigation of an attack that occurred earlier this month that wounded several Americans.
“At President (Joe) Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declared in a statement.
“President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq,” Kirby continued.
Kirby added that the strikes destroyed various installations at a border control point. Iranian-backed proxy militias Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) have generally used these facilities in the past.
According to an American official, who is maintaining anonymity, revealed that the U.S. launched the strikes to send a clear signal to the militias that it wanted to punish them for their misbehavior in Iraq. The U.S. claims that it does not want the situation to spiral out of control.
In typical fashion, the Biden administration’s action received bipartisan praise. For example, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, the leading Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, believes that the Biden administration’s launching of airstrikes was the right call.
“Responses like this are a necessary deterrent and remind Iran, its proxies, and our adversaries around the world that attacks on U.S. interests will not be tolerated,” McCaul proclaimed.
The Biden administration yet again shows that it’s just another establishment policy outfit. By continuing its presence in Syria, the U.S. government is demonstrating its true intentions — confronting Iran and its proxies. Since 1979, the U.S. has been in de facto hostilities with the country through the use of sanctions, black operations, sabotage attempts, and targeted military strikes against its proxies and military assets.
Here’s an alternative policy that American leaders should consider: Let Iran bleed itself dry in Syria. No American blood and treasure should be drained in another Middle Eastern quagmire.
Certain parts of the Middle East are more prosperous now and countries ranging from the Arab states to Turkey can play balancing and mediating roles to keep Iran in check without the U.S. having to stick its nose in the Middle East. Even Russia, which has asserted itself in the Middle East in a firm manner since the Arab Spring, can handle the burden of bringing geopolitical equilibrium to the region.
Notice a recurring theme here? Other countries, not the U.S., will be shouldering the burden of putting the Middle East back together. America will benefit much more from that kind of arrangement.
