Tel Aviv: The US armed forces will make a big effort to stop the increased presence of Iranian militia groups in Syria. Israeli sources said on August 25 that the Americans are following and will act “when needed”.
According to the Iran international website, military tensions escalated between US forces and Iranian militia in Syria as nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington seemed to be making some progress. US attack helicopters destroyed three vehicles of Iranian militia Wednesday, August 24 evening local time that had fired rockets at American forces in Syria, lightly injuring three servicemen. Three militiamen were also reportedly killed in the US retaliation.
This was the second attack on militia targets in two days, after the United States conducted an air strike Tuesday, August 23 at suspected sites of militia under Iranian command, who had conducted a rocket attack on August 15 at US forces.
CENTCOM issued a statement on the events indicating that Iranian-backed forces had fired multiple salvos of rockets at two sites and their vicinity.
“We are closely monitoring the situation,” said Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM. “We have a total spectrum of capability to mitigate threats across the region, and we have every confidence in our ability to protect our troops and Coalition partners from attacks.”
CENTCOM added, “The response was proportional and deliberate. The United States does not seek conflict with Iran, but we will continue to take the measures necessary to protect and defend our people.”
One senior defence official told the Politico website that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) is responsible for and directing the attacks against US targets. It is not clear why forces under Iranian command in Syria began the military confrontation ten days ago when international talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, JCPOA, seemed to be making progress.
It is also not clear why the United States waited eight days to show its first response on August 23. The delay could have been related to the dynamics of the negotiations, or CENTCOM might have seen signs on the ground that more attacks were imminent.
According to Iran international, the Biden Administration has focused on restoring the JCPOA that its predecessor abandoned, but critics say that Iran’s threat to the region is not just the possibility that it will build nuclear bombs, but its existing conventional and subversive threats that would remain in place even if the JCPOA is restored.
“In fact, opponents both in the US, Israel and elsewhere say that a nuclear deal will immediately release tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief and frozen assets for Tehran, which would become more empowered to bolster its non-nuclear threats to other countries.” the report in the website says.
US forces were first deployed into Syria during the Obama administration’s campaign against Islamic State. There are about 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the east. The US attacks on Iranian militias in Syria are performed in parallel to the continued attacks of Israel again shipments of Iranian made weapons that arrive to Syria on their way the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
