contents
The US continues to have a presence in the region. The air force has attacked a base of Iranian fighters.
That happened: The US Air Force has attacked a base of Iranian fighters in eastern Syria. The target was facilities used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as the US military announced during the night. According to its own statements, the USA is fighting the terrorist organization IS in Syria.
The US is well aware that IS continues to pose a threat to Syria and the region.
In July, US forces killed a senior IS leader with a drone. Almost six months earlier, US special troops in Syria had tracked down another IS leader. When they finally surrounded him, he blew himself up.
This is the history: The United States announced an end to its involvement in Syria in 2019. “It caused a stir at the time because it left the Kurdish fighters allied with them in the lurch,” explains Middle East correspondent Susanne Brunner. At the time, they were under pressure from Turkey and from the troops of the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. But it wasn’t a complete retreat, she says. Because: “The United States knows very well that IS continues to pose a threat to Syria and the region.”
Hence these attacks: The number of US troops in Syria is still around 900. They are regularly attacked by armed groups close to Iran – i.e. by offshoots of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. “Their attacks on US bases in Syria have increased in recent days,” says the correspondent. “Last week rockets hit a US military base on the Iraqi border. There have also been various drone attacks. That’s why the US has now responded by bombing Iranian militia bases in Syria.”
The militias are so dangerous: The United States classifies the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. “It’s a paramilitary group, an army alongside the regular Iranian army,” explains Brunner. “And it played an important role in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.” Today it acts as the armed wing of the Iranian government abroad in order to assert Tehran’s power-political interests. “In Iraq, for example, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their allies are being held responsible for the murder of hundreds of government critics.”
Legend:
In 2019, US President Donald Trump classified the IRGC as a terrorist organization. In early 2020, he had Qassem Soleimani killed when he was in Iraq. He was an important figure in the Revolutionary Guards. (Picture from a rally in Tehran in April 2022.)
Reuters/Majid Asgaripour/WANA
Role of the nuclear deal: Negotiations are currently underway with Iran to resume the nuclear deal. According to Brunner, it is unclear whether there is a connection between the agreement and the most recent attack in Syria. The fact is: “The agreement seems to be moving forward, and Israel finds that appalling. Because it sees Iran as its greatest threat and wants to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power at all costs.” So far, Israel is considered the only nuclear power in the Middle East, even if Israel neither confirms nor denies this.
“Israel is completely opposed to a repeat of the agreement with Iran and was shocked when Iran demanded that the United States remove the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist list,” explains Brunner. So far, the US has not responded. “But perhaps the bombing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards targets in Syria was also a sign to Israel that the US continues to take a hard line on Iran.” Usually it is Israel that attacks Iranian targets in Syria.