US should rethink its Middle East strategy
Sunday’s lethal drone attack on US forces stationed at a military post in northeastern Jordan was the most severe challenge to America’s military presence in the region since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
US forces in Syria and Iraq have been targeted at least 150 times since then by pro-Iranian militias based in Iraq. But three US soldiers were killed in the Jordan attack and as many as 30 injured.
The drone is believed to have been launched from Iraq. The socalled Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of several Shiite groups attached to the Popular Mobilization Units, claimed responsibility.
The target location is believed to be a vital center of military communications and surveillance that covers Syria, Iraq and Jordan. ProIranian groups have said their postOct. 7 operations are in response to Israel’s war on Gaza. The same groups claim they have attacked targets in Israel itself, including Eilat in southern Israel.
At the same time, the Houthis in Yemen have managed to disrupt commercial maritime activity in the Red Sea by attacking US, British and Israeli ships and any vessels heading to Israeli ports.
They have also launched many long-range missiles against southern Israel. They, too, claim they are supporting the people of Gaza against the Israeli onslaught. The US and Britain have carried out several aerial attacks against Houthi positions in response.
Sunday’s attack took the US by surprise. The fact that the strike took place on Jordanian territory is also essential. President Joe Biden and the Pentagon promised to retaliate, but Republican lawmakers and the right-wing media want him to strike Iran, which has denied any connection to the incident.
Tehran said that resistance groups are the ones that have decided to respond to the US military presence in the region, not itself. The White House finds itself ‘‘After destroying Iraq, it allowed Iran to play a crucial role in the country’s politics, resulting in what we have today: multiple nonstate actors that are supported by Iran and are ideologically against the US presence, not only in Iraq but the region.’’ in an awkward position, needing to show deterrence while avoiding an open war with Iran and its proxies.
The US has retaliated in the past few weeks with strikes against forces at the Al-Asad and Irbil airbases in Iraq. The most serious was last month’s strike on a Kata’ib Hezbollah base in Baghdad, which killed at least one senior official and wounded 18, including civilians.
The Iraqi government protested the US strike, calling it an “unacceptable attack on Iraqi sovereignty” that would “harm bilateral relations.” Since then, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has requested that negotiations should begin to end the US military presence in Iraq.
Meanwhile, US media reports have stated that Washington is also considering pulling out of northeastern Syria.
The main question is how the US will retaliate. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that America is not looking to go to war with Iran, nor does it want to expand the regional conflict.
Sunday’s attack raises many challenges for the US. First, its military has been in this region for decades, toppling Saddam Hussein and triggering a sectarian war in
Iraq, while incriminating itself in war crimes. After destroying Iraq, it allowed Iran to play a crucial role in the country’s politics, resulting in what we have today: multiple nonstate actors that are supported by Iran and are ideologically against the US presence, not only in Iraq but the region.
Second, the US has launched wars or been involved in them from Afghanistan to Libya and from Yemen to Somalia and Syria, with one clear outcome: the creation of failed states.
This has enabled proxy groups and nonstate actors and led to the death or displacement of millions of innocent civilians.
Other than triggering wars, the US has had no clear regional strategic objective. It has alienated its traditional allies and created anti-US sentiments across the region.
Third, in this latest Israeli aggression on Gaza, the US has sided, as usual, with the aggressor without any consideration of how the people of the region will feel.