America and Iran-backed armed teams within the Center East are more and more buying and selling fireplace in Syria since Israel launched its brutal navy assault on the Gaza Strip on October 7.
US bases in Syria and neighbouring Iraq have been attacked a number of occasions, elevating fears of regional escalation as Iran has warned towards the mounting demise toll in Gaza. Greater than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in practically 40 days of continuous Israeli bombing.
So, what’s the newest with the assaults, how carefully tied are they to what’s taking place in Gaza, and the way might this escalate?
How huge are the strikes?
Iran-backed teams have attacked US forces in Syria and Iraq greater than 50 occasions for the reason that begin of the Gaza conflict, with a number of assaults coming this week, based on US navy officers.
The assaults, involving rockets, missiles and drones, have inflicted minor harm and haven’t killed any US troopers.
Washington has warned that the assaults should cease. It has additionally launched retaliatory strikes, the newest of which got here late on Sunday towards two purportedly Iran-linked websites in Syria. One hit a coaching facility close to Abu Kamal, with one other focusing on a secure home close to Mayadin, each situated in japanese Syria.
The Pentagon didn’t present any particulars on the harm attributable to the strikes, however the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based monitoring group, stated eight members of Iran-backed militias have been killed within the assaults. Al Jazeera nonetheless couldn’t independently confirm the determine.
US officers stated final week no less than 56 US personnel have been injured in assaults in Syria and Iraq that began on October 17. Accidents ranged from minor wounds to traumatic mind accidents, however the Pentagon stated all had been handled they usually returned to work.
Are assaults instantly linked to Israel’s conflict on Gaza?
US officers have tried to stress that Pentagon strikes towards the Iran-backed teams usually are not instantly linked with the Gaza conflict. They are saying US strikes are slightly acts of “self-defence” that haven’t been carried out in coordination with Israel.
The assaults by regional armed teams have solely intensified in recent times, significantly following the 2020 US assassination of Iranian Common Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, the place Tehran-backed militias maintain sway. The US has been retaliating towards these strikes.
Israel, the US’s closest ally within the area, has carried out quite a few assaults on Syrian soil as effectively and has hit airports in Damascus and Aleppo a number of occasions since October because it seeks to restrict the chance posed by Iran-backed forces in Syria.
Iran has been repeatedly warning for the reason that begin of the conflict in Gaza that “new fronts” will be opened if Tel Aviv refuses to cease bombing civilians within the besieged strip, and the “resistance axis” – regional political and armed teams allied with Tehran – forces could strike.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has already been engaged in border preventing with Israeli forces for greater than a month, whereas Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have launched a number of rounds of strikes on southern Israel.
The US has attributed their attacks directly to Iran, however Tehran maintains members of the axis act autonomously whereas sharing the objective of countering US hegemony within the area.
Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow on the German Institute for Worldwide and Safety Affairs (SWP), stated the assaults by Iran-backed teams are a part of the response of the axis to the conflict in Gaza.
“As senior Iranian officials have repeatedly stated, the Islamic Republic believes that Washington’s support is the main factor enabling Israel to continue and expand its military operations in Gaza with impunity,” he informed Al Jazeera.
“In this way, it seems that Iran and its allies are trying to force the Biden administration to reconsider its approach to the war in Gaza by increasing costs for the United States, and indirectly pressuring Israel to stop its attacks.”
He added that Iran and its allies are involved over a substantial enhance in US navy presence within the area over the previous month, which incorporates new carrier strike groups, a nuclear submarine, and troops.
The place does Syria stand on this?
Iran has appreciable affect in Iraq and Syria and is a essential backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who brutally quashed an opposition-led armed rise up that erupted following peaceable protests in 2011.
Within the chaos of the conflict, the US forces entered northeast Syria apparently in assist of its Kurdish allies who fought towards al-Assad. The Syrian authorities has repeatedly known as for the “occupation forces” of the US to withdraw from the nation, halt their assaults on Syrian soil, and cease “looting” its assets, together with oil.
Washington maintains its forces are there to cease a resurgence of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group that took over massive swaths of Syria and Iraq however was ultimately defeated by a world coalition. The Kurdish forces backed by the US have been spearheading the anti-ISIL operation in Syria.
Like most Arab leaders throughout the area, al-Assad has expressed his severe opposition to the conflict in Gaza, denouncing Israel’s strikes. Al-Assad’s regional isolation only ended earlier this year.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday hosted a significant Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, the place the Syrian president was additionally a speaker. He lambasted the “vicious circle” of permitting Israel to commit massacres after which being content material with permitting restricted humanitarian help as an alternative of defending Palestinians.
“A right cannot be restored when the criminal has become a judge and the thief has become a referee,” he stated, referring to the function of Western nations within the Israeli bombing marketing campaign of Gaza.
How might issues escalate?
To date, the assaults on US forces in Syria haven’t precipitated severe harm. The one casualty the US forces have suffered was reported in Iraq. The Pentagon confirmed final month {that a} US contractor died of a coronary heart assault whereas taking cowl throughout an assault on a US base in Iraq’s western al-Anbar governorate.
SWP’s Azizi stated the truth that there have been no reported casualties amongst US troopers matches inside Iran’s calculated technique.
“If American soldiers and personnel were killed, the United States would likely respond in a very serious manner, and we would witness a significant escalation. In turn, the US responses so far have been limited to targeting logistical centres and weapon depots used by Iran and its allies, avoiding human casualties. Thus, it is clear that both sides are adhering to some kind of unwritten rules of engagement,” he stated.
However this does create a threat of miscalculation on both facet.
“For example, if American soldiers are killed in one of those attacks, the United States will definitely be forced to respond equally or even more severely. One should not forget that the Biden administration is already being criticized for what is seen as its weakness vis-a-vis Iran.”
