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On Wednesday, United States troops stationed in the South of Syria attacked bunkers in Deir el-Zor province after a Syrian attack. These United States attacks took place because of the aggressions the United States troops were subjected to last week. the United States thinks the attacks have been made by the Tehran-backed militias even if the Iranians denied it.
Syria has been an unstable country since the “Arab Spring“, which brought the waves of protests that hit the Middle East in 2011. The Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad seemed destinated to lose power since that period but the revolution has never succeeded even if a part of its territory, known as Rojava, has become an autonomous region of Syria since 2012. The war effects in Syria were catastrophic because of the strength of the revolution, according to several sources, the numbers say that this war caused 100.000 victims since 2013, and 4.9 million people escaped from the violence in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey.
The United States military-military operation in Syria is officially a United States-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS that began in 2014. At first, it was an operation against terrorism. It then became an operation that had to assure ISIS would not come back, a lower rate of violence, and look at Assad’s violations of human rights. The mission could and can count on 900 American soldiers, an army that was built for defeating ISIS. This is the goal of a global alliance but also the expected outcome of an alliance between the United States and the People’s Protection Units International (YPG), part of the Autonomous region army in Syria which allowed the United States to “work” on “its” territory.
The American presence on the Syrian ground is a problem for several countries in the region as Iran and Turkey but it is also an annoyance for Russia. Iran criticized that the United States had not answered its nuclear proposal, yet last week it called for the United States’ withdrawal from the Syrian country due to the fact Iran says that its mission is a violation of the Syrian sovereignty as none of the recognized governments invited them to be there. Turkey, instead, is afraid of the United States’ alliance with the People’s Protection Units International due to the fact it is a clone of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) which Turkey designates as a terrorist party. Russia is interested in the stability of the region more than anything else and Russia thinks a change in the leadership could lead to new instability in the region, for this reason, they support Assad in its operation.
The United States operation does not seem to come to an end, after defeating ISIS the mission found other goals, but with the weakness of the historic allies in the region, Israel, the Middle East is always more unstable from the United States point of view. At the moment the region is under a Shia hegemony led by Iran, an armed and almost nuclear country helped by Russia interested in the order of the region and watched by Turkey, this last interested to limit Kurds in its territory and is scared they could organize a rebellion at the borders in the “Autonomous” region in Syria.
Is it sound for the United States to continue to advance its efforts? Did the United States operation turn into a military outpost?
Suggested Readings:
US says airstrikes in Syria intended to send message to Iran – World News (hurriyetdailynews.com)
Centcom’s show aims to cover up America’s weakness – Tehran Times
US strikes Iran-backed groups in Syria twice in 24 hours after attacks – BBC News
La fragile Syria Policy di Joe Biden – Geopolitica.info
Hearing | Hearings | United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
