Joe Biden has launched air strikes against Iranian militias in Syria. Politico. The strikes hit a border control point used by those militias. Fighter jets dropped 500lbs smart bombs on targets near the border of Iraq. The US military carried the strike out alone without help from allies or permission from Syria. The strike is in response to attacks on US interests in Iraq, including the Balad air base where US contractors work on Iraq's small fleet of F-16's. It is unknown how many casualties the strikes caused but they are expected to be low.
My Comment:
As far as I know this is Joe Biden's first major military operation. It is sure to be controversial and a lot of people on social media are already condemning this airstrike. Very few people want war with Syria or Iran and this incident could in theory cause that.
Part of that is the media not really covering international issues. I am aware that these Iranian militias have been attacking US interests in Iraq ever since Biden took power. That news has largely been buried by other current events and I think Biden is a victim of his own media domination. Most people aren't aware of these attacks because the media is still obsessed with culture war issues like the January 6th incident.
Is the strike justified? I don't really think so. It seems pretty disproportionate compared to the minor strikes that have been hitting these bases. Plus I don't know if they have conclusively proven that these militias were the ones responsible for it. I also don't like violating Syria's sovereignty but we have been doing that for a long time now.
This will probably anger Iran. Biden has been trying to normalize relations with Iran and get ack into the nuclear deal but that might not happen now. Blowing up one of their proxy army bases will not get them in their good graces. It could torpedo Biden's effort to get back into the Iran deal.
Domestically I don't see this playing well for Biden. Basically nobody wants further wars in the Middle East other than Biden's neocon and neoliberal allies. It's one of the rare things that both Trump supporters and the far left agree on and that is we shouldn't be bombing Syria. Indeed, I think one of the only times I saw widespread criticism of President Trump from his supporters was when he bombed Syria. And at some point Iraq is going to have to be responsible for their own security situation.
But then again, Biden has a tame media that will praise him no matter what he does. He could bomb France and CNN would go to bat for him. Plus I think the media isn't going to cover this story for very long either. It's too bad because I don't think the people that voted for Biden legitimately voted for more war in the middle east.
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