/ world today news/ Military bases in the Middle East have been a tool of US influence for decades. However, after another escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the situation is changing. The new realities exposed the Pentagon’s main vulnerability.
Endangered
In the past month and a half, US facilities in the Middle East have been attacked 66 times, the Defense Department said. Of these, 34 were in Syria, with most of the attacks targeting oil fields:
8 – from the well of Koniko in Deir ez Zor,
7 – based on the El Omar deposit in the same province,
6 – at the base in At-Tanf in the southern part of the country,
6 – at the “Al Shadadi” base in Hasaka province in the north-eastern part of the country,
4 – along the landing zone near Rumalin,
3 – On the base “Tel Baydar” in the same region.
But the issue is not limited to oil depots where Americans smuggle fuel. The targets were facilities needed to help the Kurds in the areas bordering Turkey and Iraq. Al-Tanf, for its part, maintains control over the Al-Rukban refugee camp in the southern part of the country.
In Iraq, the situation is no better for Washington – 32 attacks, the targets of which were Air Force facilities:
15 strikes on Al-Assad air base in the central part of the country,
11 strikes on Al-Harir in Kurdistan in Northern Iraq,
5 more at Irbil air base in the same area,
and another – on the Diplomatic Support Center in Baghdad, which is actually another military site.
The attacks left over 60 Americans injured, including one who died of a heart attack while trying to hide from a drone. So the deliveries of THAAD and Patriot systems, which Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin talked about in October, helped only partially.
Sharp growth
It should be noted that from January to October, US military installations in these two countries were attacked only seven times. Since October 17, however, the number of incidents has increased significantly. In addition, the attacks in the past month represent one-third of the total during Joe Biden’s entire presidency.
This trend reflects a radical shift in the American position in this volatile region. “The scale and capability of attacks that our forces will see in the near to medium term will be unimaginably worse than what we experienced during the Cold War,” Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Thomas Lawhead said last week.
An additional problem for Washington is that it can hardly stand up to anything. Although all means are there: fighter jets – from F-15 to F-35, and a wide selection of drones, including Global Hawk and Reaper, and even two groups of aircraft carriers sent to the region after October 7.
Until recently, as noted by the Associated Press, the US responded to attacks only in Syria – three times. In particular, the Pentagon claimed that on October 27, fighter jets struck two warehouses in Al-Bukamal owned by the IRGC. Then on November 8. dropped bombs on a similar site near Maysoulun in Deir ez Zor, and four days later on an educational center in Mayadin province.
However, sites in Iraq were also hit by American strikes last night.
Weak answer
“The Pentagon says the strikes have depleted the military stockpiles of Iran’s allies and rendered those facilities unusable. But critics say the response pales in comparison to the 60 attacks and wounded Americans. More importantly, the United States is unable to stop these attacks,” the Associated Press notes.
Such a formal reaction is explained by several factors, international journalist Abbas Juma is convinced. “The United States deliberately attacks only allies that cannot pose a threat to its national security,” he argued. “The White House understands that a more radical response could lead to further escalation, which is not in their interest at all. Washington does not want a full-scale war with Iran and is trying in every way to avoid it. That’s why the answer is so restrained. Tehran has a lot of missiles and drones, it has hypersonic missiles, so in the event of a conflict, the Middle East will not be a safe place for American soldiers.”
Juma notes that Iran, for its part, is ready to respond adequately, although it does not seek direct conflict. “An example is the assassination of Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad by the Americans, after which the IRGC – alone, not through a proxy – launched a missile attack on American bases in Iraq,” he recalled.
At the same time, he said, it is now difficult to predict Washington’s moves. For example, we should not expect “another US flight like we saw in Afghanistan.”
“Apparently they expect that they will keep control of the situation and will not allow it to turn into an open conflict,” the analyst admits.
This means that the threat will not go away: the United States simply has nothing to eliminate it. The conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip have made it difficult for America to find the resources to take action in other arenas. But the White House cannot afford to leave Syria and Iraq – that would be too severe a blow to its image in the region. Therefore, it will have to remain in such an uncomfortable split.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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