US using Syria outpost to counter Iran
TANF BASE HAS BECOME UNINTENDED BULWARK AGAINST TEHRAN; US TO REMAIN IN SYRIA UNTIL IRAN FORCES DEPART
To understand how the United States is countering Iran’s expansion across the Middle East, consider the outpost at Tanf.
This tiny garrison, a jumble of dirt-filled blast barriers and tents surrounded by the immense desert of southern Syria, was established to roll back Daesh’s once-vast domain.
But its strategic position along a highway linking the Syrian regime in Damascus to its backers in Tehran has made the base an unintended bulwark against Iranian influence in Syria and, now, a potential locus in White House plans to confront Iran’s reach across the region.
President Donald Trump has vowed to make countering Iran’s support for allies and proxies across the region, from Lebanon to Yemen to Syria, a centrepiece of his Middle East strategy. Already he has slapped new economic sanctions on Iranian affiliates and pulled out of his predecessor’s nuclear deal.
Officials now say the United States will commit to remaining in Syria until Iranian forces depart, vowing to force an end to Tehran’s programme of massive military and financial support that has helped Syrian President Bashar Al Assad reverse the course of the war.
Gen. Joseph Votel, who leads US Central Command, described Tanf as a key element in the continuing military mission to extinguish Daesh and ensure the group cannot stage a comeback.
Speaking during a visit to the base on Monday, he said it also had additional benefits in hindering Iran, as the US presence there makes it harder for Tehran to build up its military presence in Syria and help the Al Assad regime claw back areas outside its control.
“There’s no denying that we have some kind of indirect effect on them,” Votel said.
Political end
That deterrent could strengthen the hand of US officials as they launch a newly intensified bid, led by the State Department, to hammer out a political end to the war. “We are trying to provide leverage for our diplomats as they pursue their objectives,” he added during a visit that for the first time allowed members of the news media to access the remote installation.
The garrison, manned by several hundred foreign troops and a similarly sized force of Syrian fighters, illustrates how the United States has sought lowerrisk means to counter Iran on the ground even as senior officials escalate a war of words and intensify economic and diplomatic pressure on Tehran. The high stakes involved in the US presence in southern Syria were apparent last year when American forces fired on Iranian-linked elements that approached within a 30-mile air and ground exclusion zone around the base. They also shot down two Iranian drones near the base, together marking US forces’ most serious confrontation with Iranian-linked elements since they arrived in Syria in 2014.
But military officials have been reluctant to countenance any larger conflict with Iran as they seek to wind down the insurgent conflicts of the post9/11 era and embrace a shift towards countering threats from Russia and China. They are also wary of the costs of an escalation of rhetoric between Washington and Tehran. A network of proxy groups retain the power to unleash attacks on US personnel in the region, as they did in Iraq after 2003.
A US official said the Trump administration had committed to extending the military mission until it achieves a lasting defeat of Daesh. And while the White House now says the United States will remain in Syria until Iranian forces are gone, officials say that parallel anti-Iran mission may be diplomatic rather than military. The Pentagon has not been asked to take on Iran, which is thought to command a force of at least 10,000 fighters in Syria, including regime soldiers and militiamen.
The ongoing US presence at Tanf “demonstrates that the United States is not about leaving the Middle East in general or Syria in particular until we have a security situation that meets our needs and the needs of our allies - Jordan, Israel, Turkey and Iraq,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address internal strategy discussions.