Why Is the U.S. Still in Syria?
By Daniel DEPETRIS
Aweek back, United States troops encamped in the little, dusty Syrian station of al-Tanf all of a sudden found themselves under a “purposeful and collaborated attack“, as several explosive-laden drones barreled towards their positions. According to United States officials who talked to the APon background, Iran “resourced and encouraged” the most recent drone attack targeting US forces. The five drones were likewise supposedly Iranian-manufactured, leading to speculationthat Tehran is evaluating the Biden administration at a time when nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran stay in limbo.
Luckily, United States soldiers handled to pacify the drone attack without suffering any casualties. But the near-miss was still deeply troubling, for it again illustrated the very harmful environment in which almost 1,000 US forces in Syria are operating.
If the US desperately needed to put soldiers in damage’s method to safeguard itself and its core security interests in the Middle East, then maybe the ongoing mission in Syria could be justified. Syria, nevertheless, can barely be called a core US security interest– twice as so when the Islamic State, the terrorist group Washington sought to overcome, is now stateless, weak and unable to hold ground anymore.
The October 21 drone attack on United States positions in Syria certainly wasn’t the very first of its kind– and if Washington demands keeping soldiers there, it likely won’t be the last.
The variety of rocket launches, drone swarms and mistakes that have occurred in Syria over the previous few years are too numerous to list here. Yet a few have been particularly notable. On June 20, 2017, a United States F-15 fighter airplane shot down an Iranian-made droneas it approached the al-Tanf garrison situated near the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian borders. Around 2 weeks earlier, an American aircraft blasted another dronefrom the sky after it launched a munition near Syrian rebel fighters and their United States fitness instructors. In February 2018, in the most serious armed clash involving American soldiers in Syria to date, an outmanned group of US unique operations forces based in Deir-ez-Zor was required to employ airstrikes versus numerous armed Russian contractors who were approaching the deconfliction zone (the attack was foiled, with about 300 Russians eliminated in an hours-long battle).
In August 2020, Russian automobiles patrolling an eastern section of the country sideswipeda lightly-armored US vehicle, hurting 4 Americans in the process. And this June, after President Biden ordered a restricted air strike on Shia militia buildings near the Iraq-Syria border, those extremely same militias reactedby releasing more rockets at American centers in East Syria. That US forces got away all of these run-ins with very little damage is a miracle.
Foreign policy commentators will invest a substantial part of their time dissecting Iran’s motives. Others, like Senator Marco Rubio, will advisethe Biden administration to penalize Tehran for unprovoked, heinous aggressiveness versus American servicemembers. As they have actually done in the past, the most diehard Iran hawks will likely attempt to exploit the attack in Syria to push for a termination of nuclear talks and a doubling down of optimal pressure– a method we can all thank for a more sophisticated Iranian nuclear program and a more bellicose Iranian foreign policy.
Instead of focusing about what Tehran may depend on, diplomacy analysts and opinion shapers should be asking a completely various concern: what on earth is the US still performing in Syria?
This is not a shallow or technique concern. From the minute American warplanes struck its very first targets in Syria, one goal has actually driven the entire United States military campaign: eliminate ISIS’s so-called territorial caliphate. As President Obama informedthe American people in a nationally telecasted address on September 10, 2014, “Our goal is clear: we will deteriorate, and ultimately ruin, ISIL through a thorough and sustained counter-terrorism technique.” Obama’s follower, Donald Trump, proceeded with the military campaign and in truth escalated it. By July 2017, the last ISIS holdout in the Iraqi city of Mosul was neutralized. 3 months later, the group lostthe Syrian city of Raqqa, the headquarters of its caliphate. In December 2018, ISIS saw the Euphrates River town of Haijin fall from its grasp. And in 2019, numerous ISIS fighters not just surrendered their last spot of territory, however saw their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, killed in a United States special forces raid.
ISIS utilized to rule a swath of territory as large as the United Kingdom. Today all of this territory is gone, its finances are diminished (although at $25-50 million, ISIS money reserves are still large compared to other terrorist groups) and its liberty of movement is restricted by a litany of more effective forces who do not have an interest in letting the company restore. Yes, ISIS continues to conduct terrorist attacks in Syria. But those attacks are largely confined to soft targets, static checkpoints and exposed convoys. As soon as among the most predominate non-state actors in the Middle East, ISIS is now one amongst numerous.
Simply put, US soldiers did their job and satisfied the objective they were purchased to carry out. Which yet once again asks the question: why is the US still in Syria? It’s time policymakers in Washington answer honestly and forthrightly instead of leaning on worn out cliches about stability.