Joe Biden approves US air strike on Iran-backed militias in Syria

[MenInG]

The US military has carried out an air strike targeting Iran-backed militias in Syria, the Pentagon says.

The attack destroyed "multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups", it said.

It was the first military action ordered by the Biden administration and came in response to attacks against US and coalition personnel in Iraq.

A civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack on US targets this month.

A US service member and five other contractors were also injured when the rockets hit sites in Irbil, including a base used by the US-led coalition, on 15 February.

Rockets have also struck US bases in Baghdad, including the Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and other diplomatic missions.

After Trump, what will Biden do about Iran?
The Pentagon named Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada as two of the Iran-backed militias it targeted in Thursday's strike near the Iraqi border in eastern Syria.

It called the action a "proportionate military response" that was taken "together with diplomatic measures", including consulting coalition partners.

The operation "sends an unambiguous message", the Pentagon statement said.

"President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq."

'We know what we hit'
The US did not confirm any casualties, but UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the US attack had killed at least 17 pro-Iranian fighters.

"The strikes destroyed three lorries carrying munitions," the observatory's Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP. "There were many casualties."

Kataib Hezbollah has denied any role in the recent rocket attacks, but US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters he was "confident in the target that we went after".

"We know what we hit," he said. "We're confident that that target was being used by the same Shia militants that conducted the strikes" on 15 February.

An unnamed US official told Reuters news agency that the attack was meant to send a signal that while the US wanted to punish the militias, it did not want it to escalate into a bigger conflict.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56205056

 

[Dark_Horse]

Liberal Democratic values at full show

 

[silentkiller187]

This is just the start, i was warning people this guy is more trigger happy then trump.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

This pedophile gonna bring further destruction to an already destroyed country

Anyways, hopefully no innocents die in 'Murican bombs of freedom and democracy™

 

[Nadeemp]

Totally unacceptable.

 

[Stewie]

This pedophile gonna bring further destruction to an already destroyed country

Anyways, hopefully no innocents die in 'Murican bombs of freedom and democracy™

Pedophile? Lol
Whered that come from?

Yeah this is not good. Don’t want him starting new wars.. just get the US forces out of there if you dont want them getting shot at!

 

[Technics 1210]

The Neo facist liberal strikes first! Didn't take him long. A true right winger in disguise, a trojan horse.

Anti Trump voters have voted in a war mongering President.

You reep what you sow.

Amreeka to turn worse than India within 4 years, and this is saying something.

Trump 2024.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Pedophile? Lol
Whered that come from?

Yeah this is not good. Don’t want him starting new wars.. just get the US forces out of there if you dont want them getting shot at!

Spoiler

There was a whole compilation video posted on another thread, which by the way seems to be deleted from Youtube.

Have your own opinion. But this guy is not normal.

USA lives off wars. The same way China lives off production/exports.

Trump, despite all his faults and his disgusting policies, tried to bring production to USA.

And I say for the record, I dislike Trump, he should be in jail. But that doesn't make this warmonger creep a good person.

 

[CanadianG00se]

I have said it before that Biden will not be good for world or even US. He is from Obama era who believe in promoting war and bombing countries. I dislike Trump for idiotic behaviour, but respected him for promoting peace in Middle East. Lot of people hated him for his “Anti-Muslim” actions when he took over office in 20117.

Americans will soon realize who they have voted!!

 

[Stewie]

Spoiler

There was a whole compilation video posted on another thread, which by the way seems to be deleted from Youtube.

Have your own opinion. But this guy is not normal.

USA lives off wars. The same way China lives off production/exports.

Trump, despite all his faults and his disgusting policies, tried to bring production to USA.

And I say for the record, I dislike Trump, he should be in jail. But that doesn't make this warmonger creep a good person.

A lot of this pedophile stuff is propaganda from the right, which is why i dont care much about it. I understand if it resonates with some people purely because they dont like him for one reason or another.
I try to remain objective and form my opinion on the basis of facts and not hear say. If you believe the propaganda from the right, you would think a large section of the British royal family, all of Democrats (including Hillary and Bill Clinton) are all part of some vast network of sex traffickers, which is obviously utterly idiotic and untrue. The same people tried to tell us that a bunch of other garbage not too long ago and kind of self destructed with riots in the capital.

With that out of the way let me remind you that Trump actually authorized the assassination of the Irani general and conducted direct operations in Iran. if that is not war mongering, I dont know what is.

You only see what is happening in Syria, but you seem to be ok with other extrajudicial killings the US government conducted under Trump?

I am not ok with either because I think this is all being done just to crush Iran's growing influence in the region at the behest of the Saudis. Americans are basically acting for Saudis at the moment.

I am afraid the truth is much much more complicated than what shows up on the news. This is not just about bombing Syria. There is more happening in the background.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

A lot of this pedophile stuff is propaganda from the right, which is why i dont care much about it. I understand if it resonates with some people purely because they dont like him for one reason or another.
I try to remain objective and form my opinion on the basis of facts and not hear say. If you believe the propaganda from the right, you would think a large section of the British royal family, all of Democrats (including Hillary and Bill Clinton) are all part of some vast network of sex traffickers, which is obviously utterly idiotic and untrue. The same people tried to tell us that a bunch of other garbage not too long ago and kind of self destructed with riots in the capital.

With that out of the way let me remind you that Trump actually authorized the assassination of the Irani general and conducted direct operations in Iran. if that is not war mongering, I dont know what is.

You only see what is happening in Syria, but you seem to be ok with other extrajudicial killings the US government conducted under Trump?

I am not ok with either because I think this is all being done just to crush Iran's growing influence in the region at the behest of the Saudis. Americans are basically acting for Saudis at the moment.

I am afraid the truth is much much more complicated than what shows up on the news. This is not just about bombing Syria. There is more happening in the background.

O Bhai, I never said I was "OK" with Trump and his insane policies. All I'm trying to say is that the fact that Trump was a dbag doesn't mean Biden is our new hero.

Arabs have a very strong influence over banana republics like USA, Pak (at least IK had balls to say no to Yemen war, credit where it's due) or even India. There, I totally agree with you.

And I am not a qanon and other redneck propaganda spreaders' supporter but I would be lying if that video doesn't give me creeps. I don't care if the guy is POTUS.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-syria-strike/syria-condemns-cowardly-u-s-air-strikes-on-iran-backed-militias-idUSKBN2AQ1L8

Syria said U.S. air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the east of the country on Friday were a cowardly act and urged President Joe Biden not to follow “the law of the jungle”.

An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four, but U.S. officials said they were limited in scope to show Biden’s administration will act firmly while trying to avoid a big regional escalation.

Washington and Tehran are seeking maximum leverage in attempts to save Iran’s nuclear deal reached with world powers in 2015 but abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, after which regional tensions soared and fears of full-scale conflict grew.

“Syria condemns in the strongest terms the cowardly U.S. attack on areas in Deir al-Zor near the Syrian-Iraqi border,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“It (the Biden administration) is supposed to stick to international legitimacy, not to the law of the jungle as (did) the previous administration.”

The air strikes, early on Friday Middle Eastern time, targeted militia sites on the Syrian side of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, where groups backed by Iran control an important crossing for weapons, personnel and goods.

Western officials and some Iraqi officials accuse Iranian-backed groups of involvement in deadly rocket attacks on U.S. sites and personnel in Iraq over the last month.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also criticised the U.S. strikes and called for “unconditional respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.”

“What has happened is very dangerous and could lead to an escalation in the whole region,” a Russian parliamentarian, Vladimir Dzhabarov, was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.

The Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the air strikes had targeted positions of the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) paramilitary group along the border.

Later on Friday, KH confirmed the death of one of its fighters on the Syrian-Iraqi border and identified him as Sayyid Rahi Salam Zayid al-Sharifi.

“The American enemy persists in its criminality and kills the protectors of the nation and the honorable people of the country, not deterred from shedding innocent blood as long as the wages of murder are received from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates,” a KH statement said.

Local sources and a medical source in eastern Syria told Reuters that at least 17 people had been killed, but gave no further details. That toll could not be confirmed.

In recent attacks, a non-American contractor was killed at a U.S. military based at Erbil International Airport in Kurdish-run northern Iraq on Feb. 15 and, in the days that followed, rockets were fired at a base hosting U.S. forces, and near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Biden’s decision to strike only in Syria and not in Iraq gives Iraq’s government breathing room as it investigates the Erbil attack, which also wounded Americans.

Kataib Hezbollah has denied involvement in recent attacks against U.S. interests. Iran denies involvement in attacks on U.S. sites.

Several attacks, including the one on Erbil airport, have been claimed by little-known groups which some Iraqi and Western officials say are a front for established Iranian-backed groups such as Kataib Hezbollah.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Thursday that U.S. forces had conducted air strikes against infrastructure used by Iranian-backed militant groups.

“President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq,” Kirby said.

He said the strikes destroyed multiple facilities at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to carry out the strikes was meant to signal that, while the United States wanted to punish the militias, it did not want the situation to spiral into a bigger conflict.

The Iraqi military issued a statement saying it had not exchanged information with the United States over the targeting of locations in Syria, and that cooperation with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq was limited to fighting Islamic State.

Iraq’s foreign minister will visit Iran on Saturday to discuss the situation in the region including ways to balance relations and avoid tension and escalation, his ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

It was not clear how, or whether, the U.S. strikes might affect efforts to coax Iran back into negotiations about both sides resuming compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.

 

[sweep_shot]

Is USA trying to bring in democracy in Middle East again?

Democracy in the form of airstrikes.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Biden is the seventh consecutive US president to strike/bomb the Middle East.

These people dont value anyones life but their own.

 

[LongHorn]

I have said it before that Biden will not be good for world or even US. He is from Obama era who believe in promoting war and bombing countries. I dislike Trump for idiotic behaviour, but respected him for promoting peace in Middle East. Lot of people hated him for his “Anti-Muslim” actions when he took over office in 20117.

Americans will soon realize who they have voted!!

You sound like someone who supported Orange Man! How could you?! /s

 

[cric_man]

O Bhai, I never said I was "OK" with Trump and his insane policies. All I'm trying to say is that the fact that Trump was a dbag doesn't mean Biden is our new hero.

Arabs have a very strong influence over banana republics like USA, Pak (at least IK had balls to say no to Yemen war, credit where it's due) or even India. There, I totally agree with you.

And I am not a qanon and other redneck propaganda spreaders' supporter but I would be lying if that video doesn't give me creeps. I don't care if the guy is POTUS.

It happened under Nawaz's tenure. IK had no say in it
It was more Army politely saying no (we were running ops in Waziristan) , but the pols taking it to the parliament and causing a kerfuffle with KSA/UAE.

 

[CanadianG00se]

You sound like someone who supported Orange Man! How could you?! /s

You sound like someone who supports Pedophile War Criminal! How could you?

 

[Kroll]

This is just the start, i was warning people this guy is more trigger happy then trump.

Absolutely, this guy is a frothing war monger and his war mongering has already started. Won't be long before his theatre of warmongering is expanded.

 

[IMMY69]

Biden is the seventh consecutive US president to strike/bomb the Middle East.

These people dont value anyones life but their own.

You're absolutely spot on there.

Every President (including Obama) are there to further the US agenda and have little respect for the lives of people, especially the middle eastern muslims.

 

[Belawal2014]

Old wine in a new bottle.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

No surprise here. Zionist puppet will do what his masters tell him.

 

[Stewie]

I am not defending Biden.. but do you all feel only US is to blame here? You don’t think Saudis and some other Arab countries have been in bed with US all this time and use them
To do their dirty work? Obviously this is all being done to counter the Iranian influence in the region, and we all know where this is coming from...

Our own Muslim countries are equally to blame for this mess as Americans. Difference is, in our own over simplistic or religiously biased view, we tend to put the blame on non Muslims.

By the way Trump conducted an illegal murder of an Iranian general too. He was no better than Biden.

 

[rockyboy2018]

He is following the same hadith that he quoted in one of his videos. If you have the means to stop any injustice by force, please do so. It is not like he is waging wars with countries directly. Soft and identified targets. Therefore, you can not label him as a warmonger.

 

[Stewie]

He is following the same hadith that he quoted in one of his videos. If you have the means to stop any injustice by force, please do so. It is not like he is waging wars with countries directly. Soft and identified targets. Therefore, you can not label him as a warmonger.

I think it’s still wrong. I want US to cease interfering in other countries and just focus on defending their own country. They can do that without bombing the crap out of other nations.
What’s wrong is wrong is wrong. Is a vast majority of that area is shia and have a favorable view of iran and support them and want US forces out, well leave!

The issue here started when they attacked the American installation.. this tells me Americans have been sitting there all this time. Why didn’t trump call them back if he was so much better?

 

[IMMY69]

I am not defending Biden.. but do you all feel only US is to blame here? You don’t think Saudis and some other Arab countries have been in bed with US all this time and use them
To do their dirty work? Obviously this is all being done to counter the Iranian influence in the region, and we all know where this is coming from...

Our own Muslim countries are equally to blame for this mess as Americans. Difference is, in our own over simplistic or religiously biased view, we tend to put the blame on non Muslims.

By the way Trump conducted an illegal murder of an Iranian general too. He was no better than Biden.

I agree with this too.

However, a lot of problems stem from the actions taken by the US.
Iran would not be the way it is now if it were not for US meddling.

Saudi's, well what's to say that hasn't already been said about them?

 

[CanadianG00se]

I am not defending Biden.. but do you all feel only US is to blame here? You don’t think Saudis and some other Arab countries have been in bed with US all this time and use them
To do their dirty work? Obviously this is all being done to counter the Iranian influence in the region, and we all know where this is coming from...

Our own Muslim countries are equally to blame for this mess as Americans. Difference is, in our own over simplistic or religiously biased view, we tend to put the blame on non Muslims.

By the way Trump conducted an illegal murder of an Iranian general too. He was no better than Biden.

Yes agree which created a war like situation. But still what Obama did in Syria under his leadership was far more worse. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives and millions were displaced.
I’m afraid Biden have graduated from same school of thought and would continue where Obama left.

In this scenario, it’s about choosing lesser of the two evils.

 

[Napa]

I have said it before that Biden will not be good for world or even US. He is from Obama era who believe in promoting war and bombing countries. I dislike Trump for idiotic behaviour, but respected him for promoting peace in Middle East. Lot of people hated him for his “Anti-Muslim” actions when he took over office in 20117.

Americans will soon realize who they have voted!!

No surprises here. Dem supporters are clueless about the links between the Establishment wings of both parties, the Neocons, the Defense industry, the Israeli lobby etc. The Neocons are back in power with a vengeance, and we can expect more of this going forward. Of course, the Neocons are also wealthy and it won't be their kids (or for that matter kids of South-Asian-American professionals) who will die in places like Iraq. Obama managed to help start 4 wars around the world in his two terms, let's see if Biden can keep up.

https://www.salon.com/2021/01/19/wh...s-a-key-player-in-bidens-foreign-policy-team/

This is from the liberal website Salon. The liberals are shocked, I tell you they are shocked. They can't believe that Biden would be promoting warmongers. They were totally unaware that Obama/Biden helped start 4 wars around the world, so they can't be blamed.

 

[Napa]

By the way Trump conducted an illegal murder of an Iranian general too. He was no better than Biden.

You have no sense of proportion. The wars which the 2 Presidents before Trump started or helped start killed over a million people in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Libya etc. And you think killing an Iranian general makes Trump "no better" )

Trump killing Soleimani was the least the US could have done in face of many Iranian provocations. The Iran allied Sadr militia killed around 600 US soldiers in Iraq.

 

[Stewie]

You have no sense of proportion. The wars which the 2 Presidents before Trump started or helped start killed over a million people in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Libya etc. And you think killing an Iranian general makes Trump "no better" )

Trump killing Soleimani was the least the US could have done in face of many Iranian provocations. The Iran allied Sadr militia killed around 600 US soldiers in Iraq.

You seem
To have no sense of comprehension! Why are we comparing Biden with previous administrations? You want to compare him then compare him with his direct predecessor. That’s your bone to pick isn’t it? Everything about Trump is better and Biden is not so let’s not stray from that topic.

Trumps act was a dangerous war mongering move. He killed one general but in real world that’s an act of war, act on the sovereignty of a nation and open belligerence.

You people only read about attacks and start bashing Biden, you have no clue how many people Trump has killed using drones and through his decisions regarding Israel because his administration has been so evasive about making those numbers public.

 

[pillionrider]

There was a whole compilation video posted on another thread, which by the way seems to be deleted from Youtube.

Have your own opinion. But this guy is not normal.

Yeah. A little before the elections I was looking for these videos to send to friends who amazingly hadn't heard of this angle to Uncle Joe. All gone and only reuploads lesser than a few days old were available. There was one in which the kid was far younger than the one in this clip and she elbows him quite strongly. A kid will always instinctively know.

It's just amazing and sad someone like this gets to be a president in this time when information supposedly has multiple paths to be freely available.

The logic one of my friends used to counter this allegation was - if this were true, you think a guy like Trump would let go and not drum it up?

Well, Trump's history isn't great and he could well have his own closet.

 

[Stewie]

I admit these are troubling signs. I never expected that Biden foreign policy would be better than Trump’s in terms of peace efforts and stability in the Middle East, although I do expect him to try and reverse the damage to the Palestinian cause.

But the rest.... yeah it doesn’t look good.
Bottom line: most people’s disgust with Trump was due to his handling of domestic and some international affairs and of course his character... which prompted people to vote for Biden. I still think as Americans we would be better off under Biden.

 

[Napa]

You seem
To have no sense of comprehension! Why are we comparing Biden with previous administrations? ic.

Because Biden was VP when Obama was helping start all these wars, he never objected, sought Obama’s help in 2020 and put neocons in senior positions in his administration.

So what is it that makes you think Biden is not a continuation of Obama?

 

[Last Monetarist]

Why didn’t trump call them back if he was so much better?

Two reasons:

1. Each time he tried to reduce US military involvement abroad and cut down their budgets, he was vetoed by the Republican senate that also moved to sanction him by reducing the presidential remit.

2. He was incompetent

The latter point is also why he is no longer president. However, the whataboutism about Trump needs to stop now. It's demeaning to everyone's intelligence.

 

[Robert]

The Neo facist liberal strikes first! Didn't take him long. A true right winger in disguise, a trojan horse.

Anti Trump voters have voted in a war mongering President.

You reep what you sow.

Amreeka to turn worse than India within 4 years, and this is saying something.

Trump 2024.

There’s no such thing as a fascist liberal, the terms are mutually exclusive, it’s like saying Protestant Catholic or Shia Sunni.

Biden would be an old-fashioned One Nation Tory in the UK. A centrist in US politics.

I wonder what his objective is here? What are the Iran-backed militias doing in Syria and why is Iran backing them?

 

[LongHorn]

. He was no better than Biden.

That is exactly what people like me were saying.
But leftists including most Desi Muslims in America were acting as if Biden was the Imam Mahdi sent to rescue America from the evil reign of Trump. There were many Muslims crying tears of joy at Biden being elected.

Same with Covid; leftists were claiming that all 500,000 deaths was Trumps personal fault (no one faults Merkel or Macron though). I have read tweets saying if Hillary was President, America would have lost no more than few hundreds to Covid

Biden kept saying he had some sort of grand plan for Covid, until of course he got elected

 

[warcry]

the POTUS does not make foreign policy.
Foreign policy is made by Lobbyists. especially in the middle east.

 

[IMMY69]

I think it's absolutely unfair to compare Biden to Trump especially at this early stage.

Trump may not have started wars but his way of finishing them was to bomb like never before using drones... to drop the biggest bomb to ever fall in Afghanistan and then to pull his troops out of Kurd controlled Syria to allow the Turks to go in and Bomb them to hell.

So I think best to just wait and hope, maybe against hope, that Biden somehow corrects his course and finds a way through all of this without killing more innocent people.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

I wonder what his objective is here? What are the Iran-backed militias doing in Syria and why is Iran backing them?

His objectives are very simple: do Saudi/Israel's bidding and pressurize Iran.

Iran back militants are doing the same what USA/Saudi/Israel backed ISIS are doing: trying to gain terrain and force pressure on opposite side.
Iran is backing them because of survival. Maybe they don't wanna end up like Iraq v 2.0.

 

[Manunited18]

No surprise here. Zionist puppet will do what his masters tell him.

You've hit the nail on the head.

 

[Robert]

His objectives are very simple: do Saudi/Israel's bidding and pressurize Iran.

Iran back militants are doing the same what USA/Saudi/Israel backed ISIS are doing: trying to gain terrain and force pressure on opposite side.
Iran is backing them because of survival. Maybe they don't wanna end up like Iraq v 2.0.

USA is now self-sufficient in oil and doesn’t need the Saudis. Biden doesn’t need to please Israel as Trump did, because the Dems don’t need the Bible Belt votes like the GOP do.

Aren’t these militias firing rockets into US positions in Iraq?

Iran is backing the militias for survival against whom? Is it a proxy way to attack USA?

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

USA is now self-sufficient in oil and doesn’t need the Saudis. Biden doesn’t need to please Israel as Trump did, because the Dems don’t need the Bible Belt votes like the GOP do.

Aren’t these militias firing rockets into US positions in Iraq?

Iran is backing the militias for survival against whom? Is it a proxy way to attack USA?

So when president changes the whole Jew lobby gets turned off in Washington?

Lols, that 'firing rockets' question is also stupid, on so many levels.

Iran is surviving against Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Is it a proxy way to attack USA?

I don't get it. Are you saying Iran is a proxy to attack USA?
In any case, calculate number of kilometers between Washington and Aleppo. 'Muricans are far far away from home. They are not being attacked. They are the agressors.

 

[Robert]

So when president changes the whole Jew lobby gets turned off in Washington?

Lols, that 'firing rockets' question is also stupid, on so many levels.

Iran is surviving against Israel and Saudi Arabia.

I don't get it. Are you saying Iran is a proxy to attack USA?
In any case, calculate number of kilometers between Washington and Aleppo. 'Muricans are far far away from home. They are not being attacked. They are the agressors.

I said Biden and the Dems don’t need the fundamentalist Christian vote. I didn’t mention Jewish people.
“Jew lobby” is antisemitic. Not all Jews support the actions of the state of Israel and plenty don’t support the Democrats. I hope you mean “Zionist lobby”. I would like it if you stop insulting me, and speak respectfully.

I’m not “saying” anything. I am asking what Iran-backed Syrian rebels are rocketing US positions in Iraq for, and why Iran is backing them.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

I said Biden and the Dems don’t need the fundamentalist Christian vote. I didn’t mention Jewish people.
“Jew lobby” is antisemitic. Not all Jews support the actions of the state of Israel and plenty don’t support the Democrats. I hope you mean “Zionist lobby”. I would like it if you stop insulting me, and speak respectfully.

I’m not “saying” anything. I am asking what Iran-backed Syrian rebels are rocketing US positions in Iraq for, and why Iran is backing them.

I had no intention of insulting you. Although I did say your question was stupid, which I still believe it is.

Okay, I think you are right and let's call it Zionist lobby.

I have a question for you, maybe it can provide a hint: what's USA, Russia, Turkey, Israel and Iran's plan in Syria?

I hope you don't answer me "spreading freedom and democracy™"

 

[Technics 1210]

There’s no such thing as a fascist liberal, the terms are mutually exclusive, it’s like saying Protestant Catholic or Shia Sunni.

Biden would be an old-fashioned One Nation Tory in the UK. A centrist in US politics.

I wonder what his objective is here? What are the Iran-backed militias doing in Syria and why is Iran backing them?

A neo facist liberal is one who pretends to be liberal but is really a facist. The kind who promote democracy but resort to violence and agression, and propaganda when the results don't go their way.

The objective is to destabilise the region again and drop more bombs.

Funny how Biden hasn't made moves to rejoin the Iran peace deal - this is the real question.

 

[Stewie]

His objectives are very simple: do Saudi/Israel's bidding and pressurize Iran.

Iran back militants are doing the same what USA/Saudi/Israel backed ISIS are doing: trying to gain terrain and force pressure on opposite side.
Iran is backing them because of survival. Maybe they don't wanna end up like Iraq v 2.0.

Bottom line is, no world leader in the world is actually going to do anything that favors a Muslim country or people purely out of the goodness of their heart.

It’s all about national interests. All US presidents do that! You can cry about it till the cows come home, but that’s the truth.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-says-its-strikes-iran-backed-militia-iraq-syria-were-necessary-2021-06-28/

The United States on Monday strongly defended weekend strikes against Iran-aligned militias but the fighters vowed revenge and both Iraq and Syria condemned the unilateral U.S. air strikes as violations of their sovereignty.

The U.S. military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq in response to drone attacks by the militia against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

"We took necessary, appropriate, deliberate action that is designed to limit the risk of escalation, but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Rome.

Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border. They vowed to retaliate.

Iraq's government, wary of getting dragged into a U.S.-Iran conflict, condemned the strikes on its territory and said it would "study all legal options" to prevent such action being repeated. Syria called the strikes a "flagrant violation of the sanctity of Syrian and Iraqi lands."

Iraq's military issued a condemnation of the U.S. strikes. The Iraqi and U.S. militaries coordinate closely in a separate battle in Iraq, fighting remnants of the Sunni extremist group Islamic State.

It was the second time President Joe Biden had ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago. He ordered limited strikes in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq.

Two U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Iran-backed militias carried out at least five drone attacks against facilities used by U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq since April.

Biden's administration has been looking to potentially revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The attacks underscore how Biden aims to compartmentalize such defensive strikes, while simultaneously engaging Tehran in diplomacy.

Biden's critics say Iran cannot be trusted and point to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a U.S. military presence in Iraq or Syria.

Iran called on the United States to avoid "creating crisis" in the region.

"Certainly what the United States is doing is disrupting security in the region, and one of the victims of this disruption will be the United States," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.

Biden declined comment on the strikes in their aftermath on Sunday. But on Monday, he will meet Israel's outgoing president, Reuven Rivlin, at the White House for a broad discussion that will include Iran and U.S. efforts to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal. Those efforts have raised serious concerns in Israel, Iran's arch-foe.

In Rome on Sunday, new Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told Blinken of Israel's reservations about the Iran nuclear deal being put together in Vienna while pledging to fix "the mistakes made" in U.S.-Israeli relations in recent years.

 

[Kroll]

Absolutely, this guy is a frothing war monger and his war mongering has already started. Won't be long before his theatre of warmongering is expanded.

So like a few of us have said above, dude is back to his old tricks in no time.

 

[Giannis]

Iran shouldn't be in Syria and neither should Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Just leave them alone.

 

[Giannis]

Biden is the seventh consecutive US president to strike/bomb the Middle East.

These people dont value anyones life but their own.

Is USA trying to bring in democracy in Middle East again?

Democracy in the form of airstrikes.

Well Iran has more blood on their hands, do you know how many Syrians have been killed by Assad's regime? I'm assuming you guys are Sunni, if you were in Syria you wouldn't be spared by Iran-sponsored Assadists.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

This time it is different. Biden must understand that Imran and Erdogan are the true leaders of the Muslim world and they will not let this pass.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/undeclared-conflict-americas-battles-with-iran-backed-militia-escalate-again-2021-06-29/

U.S. President Joe Biden's latest strikes against Iran-backed militia in Syria and Iraq were not the first nor likely the last of his young presidency.

For some of Biden's fellow Democrats, the crucial question is: does the pattern of attacks and counter-attacks amount to an undeclared conflict?

If it does, they say, there is a risk that the United States could stumble into a direct war with Iran without the involvement of Congress, an issue that is becoming more politically fraught after two decades of "forever wars."

"It's hard to argue, given the pace of attacks against U.S. troops and, now, the increasing frequency of our responses, this isn't war," Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat who leads a key Senate foreign relations subcommittee, told Reuters.

"What we always worry about is that the United States slips into war without the American public actually being able to weigh in."

The two countries came close to the kind of conflict Democrats fear in January 2020, when the United States killed a top Iranian general and Iran retaliated with missile strikes in Iraq that caused brain injuries in more than 100 U.S. troops. That followed a series of exchanges with Iran-backed militias.

In the latest round, U.S. fighter jets on Sunday targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq, in what the Pentagon said was a direct response to drone attacks by militias against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

On Monday, U.S. troops came under rocket fire in Syria in apparent retaliation, but escaped injury. The U.S. military responded with counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions.

"A lot of people suggest that the term 'forever war' is just emotive, but it’s actually a decent descriptor of the kind of strike we saw again (Sunday): no strategic goal, no endpoint in sight, just permanent presence and ***-for-tat strikes," Emma Ashford, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said on Twitter.

The White House has stressed that Sunday's air strikes were designed to limit escalation and deter future militia operations against U.S. personnel.

They were also legal, according to Biden.

"I have that authority under Article Two and even those up on the Hill who are reluctant to acknowledge that have acknowledged that's the case," Biden said, referring to part of the U.S. Constitution that lays out the powers of the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Brian Finucane, a former official with the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department, said the current administration - like others before it - do not see the episodes as part of an ongoing conflict.

He called it a "salami-slice" approach.

"They would characterize these as intermittent hostilities. We had one strike back in February and then the 60-day War Powers clock essentially was reset," said Finucane, now at the International Crisis Group.

He drew a comparison to the tanker wars with Iran in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration viewed "each round of fighting as sort of a closed event."

But experts say that view does not take into account that Iran-backed militia are waging a sustained - and escalating - campaign against the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Michael Knights at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy cautioned that the militias' use of drones appeared increasingly dangerous, employing GPS guidance and precisely targeting U.S.-led coalition intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, and missile defenses.

"In quantity and quality, Iraqi militia attacks on coalition points of presence in Iraq are increasing. Unless deterrence is restored, U.S. fatalities are increasingly likely," Knights said.

Beyond pushing the United States out of the region, the militias’ secondary goal is to signal to the United States, the Iraqi government and others their mastery of more advanced weaponry, like the explosive-laden drones, said Phillip Smyth, also at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"They live on some of the covert actions that they're doing," he said.

Members of Congress are currently working on repealing some of the war authorizations that presidents from both parties have used to justify previous attacks in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

But that wouldn't necessarily prevent Biden or any other U.S. president from carrying out defensive air strikes.

After he was briefed by Biden's national security team, Murphy said he remained concerned. U.S. troops were in Iraq to battle Islamic State, not Iran-aligned militia.

If Biden is wary of going to Congress for war powers, then perhaps he needs to heed Americans' skepticism about interventions in the Middle East, he said.

"If Congress had a hard time authorizing military action against Iranian-backed militias, it would largely be because our constituents don't want it. And that's what's missing from this debate," he said.

 

[BouncerGuy]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1717806118997528718

 

[FearlessRoar]

Iran has called US air strikes on Iraq and Syria a "strategic mistake" after 85 targets were hit across the region on Friday.

The US launched retaliatory strikes in response to last week's drone attack on a US military base that killed three American soldiers.

The White House blamed the drone attack on an Iran-backed militia group.

The US and UK also launched a new round of joint strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday.

Iran's foreign ministry said the strikes on Iraq and Syria "will have no result other than intensifying tensions and instability in the region".

Earlier, Iraq said the US retaliatory strikes would bring "disastrous consequences" for the region.

At least 16 people, including civilians, were killed as a result of the strikes, Iraqi officials said.

A spokesman for Iraq's prime minister said the strikes were a "violation" of his country's sovereignty and that they would impact "the security and stability of Iraq and the region".

While Syria said the US "occupation" of Syrian territory "cannot continue".

According to a US military statement, the US struck Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria.

Several US aircraft were involved, including long-range bombers that flew over from the US.

Seven locations were hit - four in Syria and three in Iraq - with more than 85 targets being struck, the US military said.

There have been no strikes on Iranian soil.

Since Friday's US strikes in Iraq and Syria, there has been one attack on American forces, a US defence official told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The attack in question targeted US forces based at the Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria using rockets, but no injuries were reported.

President Joe Biden said the US attacks "will continue at times and places of our choosing" but added his country "does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world".

The strikes come after three US troops were killed and dozens injured in a drone attack on a US base near Jordan's border with Syria.

US officials said the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iranian-backed militia group, was responsible for the attack. The drone was Iranian-made, they said, and similar to the ones being supplied to Russia.

The militant organisation - an umbrella group of multiple militias - is believed to have been armed, funded and trained by the IRGC.

Iran has denied any role in the attack on the US base, saying it was "not involved in the decision making of resistance groups".

A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry said US strikes on Iraq, Syria and Yemen "merely provide for the goals of the Zionist regime", referring to US ally Israel.

Russia has called for an "urgent" meeting of the UN Security Council "over the threat to peace and safety created by US strikes on Syria and Iraq", Moscow's diplomat at the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said on social media.

Russia - a permanent council member - has become a close ally of Iran.

The US attacks came several hours after Mr Biden attended a repatriation ceremony for William Rivers, 46, Kennedy Sanders, 24, and Breonna Moffett, 23, who died in the attack last weekend.

More than 40 other service members were injured in the same drone attack, which struck the US Tower 22 base.

US Republicans criticised the timing of the retaliatory strikes, saying that the US had waited too long to strike back. American officials said any hold up was due to cloudy weather obstructing targets.

Some foreign policy experts believe the delay allowed Iran to withdraw personnel, potentially avoiding a wider conflict between the US and Iran.

Source: BBC

Iran says US strikes are a 'strategic mistake'

The Pentagon has struck Iran-linked targets in Syria and Iraq in response to a drone attack on a US base.

www.bbc.com