The United States carried out airstrikes in Syria just hours ago in what is President Joe Biden’s first military action since stepping into office. Biden reportedly ordered the strikes at the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The attack is a direct retaliation against several strikes carried out against the United States and its allies in the region over the past few weeks.
Since late December, there have been a couple of events that were hostile to the United States and its coalition partners in the region (both in Syria and Iraq). First, the US embassy in Iraq was attacked, then on February 15 the Erbil International Airport in Kurdistan was hit, with several victims, followed by airstrikes on the Balad Air Base and the international zone in Baghdad.
According to representatives of the United States, all of the incidents have been linked to militia groups from Iran. In particular, the US has put the blame on Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada, who are associated with the Iranian government.
In its retaliatory strike last night, the US destroyed facilities used by these militant groups to make and store weapons. That location was carefully chosen after reviewing all of the intelligence available to the US and its local allies. The goal of the attack was to disrupt the militia groups’ weapon supply.
Though the conflict is playing out on the territories of Syria, Iraq, and Iraqi Kurdistan, it is all about the relationship between the United States and Iran. Ever since Donald Trump walked away from the nuclear deal with Iran, the latter has acted as a major aggressor in the Middle East, attacking Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and others via proxy organizations.
Securing peace in the Middle East will arguably be Joe Biden’s biggest foreign policy challenge. He previously refused to approach Iran about resigning the nuclear deal, stating that Iran needs to first stop enriching uranium in a show of good faith. Iran, meanwhile, has done no such thing and has ramped up its strikes in the region of late. It has also denied any relation to the attacks on the coalition forces in the Middle East.
