“United States forces in Syria have never been tasked with interdicting Iranian supply lines to Hezbollah, so removing the small contingent of 1,000 United States soldiers would have no effect on Iran’s supply capabilities,” Director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities, Rosemary Kelanic, tells the Sun. “The fall of Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally, was the more decisive factor in preventing Iran from using Syria as a corridor.”
Ms. Kelanic, however, counters that the threat is better managed by those with the most skin in the game.
“Regional actors like Turkey and Syria can effectively prevent an ISIS resurgence without United States boots on the ground,” she observes. “ISIS was always a bigger threat to local actors than to the United States; therefore, those actors have the strongest motivation to keep ISIS defeated.”
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