FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 9, 2023
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—In response to recent attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. announced on Wednesday that American F-15s conducted an airstrike on a weapons storage facility in Syria used by Iran-linked militants. Defense Priorities Fellow Daniel DePetris issued the following statement in response:
“The latest U.S. airstrike on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated facility in eastern Syria comes at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria remain easy targets for Shia militia attacks. More than 40 such attacks have occurred since October 17.
“While the U.S. always reserves the right to defend itself wherever it operates, we should be clear: This strike won’t prevent further militia attacks on U.S. forces in the region. Incidents will continue and could even increase, as they have after other U.S. strikes over the past five years. The U.S. has shown time and time again that deterrence can’t be established with these groups, which—unlike states—don’t have to worry about defending territory or maintaining regime stability. The inherent asymmetry makes it impossible to deter these militias.
“If a U.S. ground presence in Iraq and Syria were absolutely necessary to achieve a core U.S. security interest, then perhaps these risks would be tolerable. But this is hardly the case. ISIS lost its territorial caliphate more than four years ago and is now relegated to a low-grade, rural insurgency that local actors can contain. The U.S. military presence is not only unnecessary, but also a dangerous tripwire for a wider war.
“A perpetual U.S. deployment remains high cost with no justifying security benefit. It is negligent to keep U.S. forces in Syria and even Iraq where they remain targets from groups that otherwise couldn’t reach Americans—they should immediately redeploy to better defended bases and eventually outside the region.”
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