- The United States carried out an air strike in eastern Syria on February 25 in response to recent attacks.
- Rather than assisting negotiations with Iran, military action threatens to complicate the precarious situation in the region.
- American voters must demand better from the Biden government than the continuation of the US war in the Middle East.
- Marianne Dhenin is a freelance writer covering social, political and Middle East justice.
- This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
- Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.
“Diplomacy is back!” declared President Joe Biden at the Munich Security Conference on February 4. Three weeks later, two American F-15 fighters were dropping bombs on Syria – this was for diplomacy.
According to the Pentagon Press Secretary, John Kirby, the February 25 attack, which targeted facilities in eastern Syria used by Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, was “authorized in response to the recent attacks on Americans and members of the Coalition in Iraq, and ongoing threats to these personnel. “The attack was ordered without Congressional authorization and occurred just ten days after a February 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq killed a civilian contractor and wounded a US military. USA and other coalition personnel. According to a medical source at a local hospital who spoke to Reuters, the recent US attack killed at least seventeen people.
Analysts suggest that the February 25 strike aimed to strengthen the US position in negotiations with Iran on the Joint Global Action Plan (JCPOA), or the Nuclear Agreement with Iran, which the US withdrew from President Donald’s government Trump. Biden promised to enter the agreement again.
But the strike threatens to trigger a dangerous shuttle. It is bad news for negotiations with Iran and is a far cry from the diplomatic approach Biden promised.
Sabatoging Iran speaks before it even starts
After the attack, Kirby also stated that the aim was “to slow the general situation both in eastern Syria and in Iraq”. But it will come as no surprise that the Syrian government thought otherwise after the surprise attack on its soil.
On February 26, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement calling for the action to violate international law and claiming that “it will lead to consequences that will worsen the situation in the region”. Russia, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main allies, said it was warned just minutes before the attacks. A spokesman for the country’s federation council warned that the continuation of similar actions in the region could lead to “a massive conflict”.
An unclaimed March 3 missile attack on Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq follows the assessments of the situation by Syria and Russia. The air base is one of the few Iraqi bases where US troops remain stationed. According to a Pentagon press release, no member of the US service was injured in the attack, however, a US civilian contractor died after suffering a cardiac episode while taking shelter.
It remains an open question whether Biden will respond again with force. When asked about the prospect of a military response at a news conference, Kirby told reporters that “If we determine that an answer is necessary, we will do it at the time and in the manner of our choice.”
What is certain is that the continued military escalation in the region is counterproductive. If the Biden government hopes to revive the JCPOA, it should focus on reducing tensions and facilitating the best possible environment for negotiations with Iran. Biden should know that. He must understand the danger of making sudden decisions in the region. After all, he criticized Trump’s attitude “erratic and impulsive decisions” during the campaign and advocated a more measured approach.
It is not diplomacy that Americans want
Response to the strike among American politicians varied. Some prominent members of the Republican Party welcomed the attack. GOP Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted that the strike was “targeted, proportionate and necessary.” Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee, characterized him as a reminder to “Iran, its representatives and [US] opponents around the world that attacks on US interests will not be tolerated. ”
Some Democrats also praised the action, including House majority leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who he called “a strong act” that is sure to “send a message to Tehran.”
Others were wiser. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia and Rep. Ro Khanna of California condemned the attacks. Khanna tweeted, “We cannot defend Congressional authorization before military attacks only when there is a Republican president … We need to work to get rid of the Middle East, not to scale.”
Khanna is right to point out that when Trump ordered strikes without first consulting Congress, the Democrats – some of them now members of the Biden government – protested quickly. Notably, Jen Psaki, the current White House press secretary, questioned Trump’s authority to order air strikes without Congressional approval in 2017, tweeting, “What is the legal authority for strikes? Assad is a brutal dictator. But Syria is a sovereign country.”
Americans should be asking the same question today. We should also be asking whether keeping US troops in the Middle East really makes Americans safer. Or does it just distract other foreign policy priorities?
So far, Biden’s actions in the Middle East have neglected the wishes of his foreign partners, undermined the interests of American personnel stationed in the region, and disregarded the opinion of most Americans – 73% of whom believe that good diplomacy is the best. way to guarantee peace.
Far from bringing diplomacy back, Biden resorted to aggressive use of force at record speed (in contrast, it took Trump four months to order his first air strikes). He is now prepared to sabotage what could be his only chance to revive the nuclear deal that his National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said was an “initial critical priority” for his government.
The 81 million Americans who supported Biden’s commitment to diplomacy in the general election must hold him accountable for the recent attack on Syria and for his failure to sincerely commit to Iran. A Democrat in the White House should not mean that the president has free pass to advance the war and destabilization of the US in the Middle East.