Number Of Attacks On US Bases In Iraq & Syria Pushes Past 80
US military bases in the Middle East reportedly came under fresh attack again on Friday, pushing the total number of attacks since mid-October past 80 incidents.
“There were four additional attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since yesterday, according to a DOD official. Now 82 overall since Oct. 17,” Politico’s Pentagon correspondent Lara Seligman wrote. Some media sources have put the figure as high as 85.
While the fresh attack hasn’t been widely reported in Western media, Iran’s Mehr News Agency is among those regional sources claiming that some four American bases in Syria were hit.
And one regional monitor, OSINTdefender said, “The Attacks on U.S. Forces in the Middle East today has been Never-ending, with at least 10 Rocket and Drones Attacks reported against 6 different Bases in both Iraq and Syria in the last 12 Hours.”
In a Thursday briefing, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Sing said this trend of attacks had lessened since the end of the weeklong Israel-Hamas truce and that the US is hoping things stay calm in the region.
“In terms of the attacks on our forces, I think it’s important to remember that it’s good that we have not seen attacks on our forces in the last 24 hours,” Singh said. “We would like to see that continue.”
The Biden administration has long asserted that it “won’t hesitate” to defend American forces in the region; however, recent reporting in Politico has suggested the US is intentionally refraining from a response to Iran-backed Houthi aggression in the Red Sea out of fear of sparking a broader war.
This week for the first time since Oct. 7, the US Embassy in Baghdad came under multiple missile salvos. Damage was reported but no injuries.
Likely, attacks will continue to intensify, especially in Syria, given that both Syrian national and Iranian forces want to squeeze American forces out of the illegal occupation of the country’s oil and gas regions. There have been dozens of US troop injuries, with all of them reported as minor.
Attacks on U.S. Bases in Middle East Are Escalating.
— Daniel Davis Deep Dive (@DanielLDavis1) December 9, 2023
I continue to argue our troops in Iraq & Syria are serving no purpose… they are not degrading terrorist groups in the region. Get them out of there!#iraq #Syria #MiddleEast #isis #hamas #Terrorists pic.twitter.com/2UMkGHs8bR
Washington has been intent on strangling Damascus and the Syrian population after Assad emerged victorious from the decade-long proxy war there. Turkey also wants to see the US presence end, given the Pentagon’s support to the Kurds.
Just this week the Senate voted down a resolution that which have required a quick and full US troop drawdown from Syria, on the basis that there was never explicit Congressional authorization for the occupation in the first place.
