Three separate days of skirmishes this week between United States military forces and Iran-backed militias in Syria have put a spotlight on the U.S. presence in the country as indirect negotiations to save the Iran nuclear deal enter a what appears to be the final stage. US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that US strikes had killed four fighters in eastern Syria, adding that Washington’s action was aimed at protecting its forces from attacks by Iran-backed armed groups in the region. “I directed the August 23 strikes to protect and defend the safety of our personnel … and to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iranian-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel and facilities Biden said in a statement. to the US Congress for its decision to take military action. Iran has denied that the groups involved are backed by Tehran or that the targets are linked to it, and has called for US forces to withdraw from Syria. Biden said the strikes had hit a facility used by the groups for logistics and ammunition storage and were a response to raids by the US and its allies in the region. Three members of the US military were also slightly wounded on Wednesday when armed groups launched rocket attacks on two military bases in northeastern Syria, the US Central Command said, adding that US forces killed the four suspected militants in response. Jean-Loup Samaan, a senior researcher at the Middle East Institute in Singapore, said the recent US raids looked like exchanges between each other rather than a major military escalation. “If we go by the statements of the US government, the rationale so far does not seem to be to escalate but to restore some sort of status quo between the two sides,” Samaan told Al Jazeera. “I don’t think the idea was to link the developments in Syria to the ongoing nuclear talks, in fact, it’s probably the opposite,” the analyst said. “It also reminds us that the agreement at stake will not solve all the issues on the table, as we saw in 2015 that the agreement had no effect on other regional issues,” he added. The escalation between the two sides could threaten talks to save the nuclear deal between major world powers, led by the US, and Iran. Negotiations to restore the accord have intensified in recent months, more than four years after former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord, which aims to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions on the country . The sides are exchanging amendments to what is called the “final text” of the agreement as part of the talks.
US domestic policy
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran believes that the recent escalation in Iran stems from US domestic politics ahead of the country’s upcoming mid-term polls. “Biden wants to be seen as a strong leader in front of the American political class and people before the upcoming [mid-term] elections and also because now we are close to a nuclear deal,” Maradi said from Tehran, adding that the forces attacked are present in the country with the approval of the Syrian government to fight the ISIL (ISIS) group (ISIS). In addition to fighting the Islamic State, militias fighting in support of the Syrian government have played an active role in defeating the Syrian opposition in vast areas of the country. Maradi added that “the US’s illegal attacks” appear to count as the reported damage caused by them was limited and therefore does not affect the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. “US troops are careful not to over-escalate the situation without great damage or cost, which also shows that the move is more about domestic politics than regional issues,” Marandi said. The 2022 US midterm elections will be held on November 8. Candidates will compete for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate.
