Sunday’s lethal drone attack on US forces stationed at a military
post in northeastern Jordan was the most severe challenge to America’s military
presence in the region since
October 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel. US
forces in Syria and Iraq have been targeted at least 150 times since then by
pro-Iranian militias based in Iraq. But three US soldiers were killed in the
Jordan attack and as many as 30 injured. The drone is believed to have been
launched from Iraq. The so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of
several Shiite groups attached to the Popular Mobilization Units, claimed
responsibility.
اضافة اعلان
The target location is believed to be a vital center of
military communications and surveillance that covers Syria, Iraq and Jordan.
Pro-Iranian groups have said their post-
October 7 operations are in response to
Israel’s war on Gaza. The same groups claim they have attacked targets in
Israel itself, including Eilat in southern Israel.
At the same time, the Houthis in Yemen have managed to
disrupt commercial maritime activity in the Red Sea by attacking US, British
and Israeli ships and any vessels heading to Israeli ports. They have also
launched many long-range missiles against
southern Israel. They, too, claim
they are supporting the
people of Gaza against the Israeli onslaught. The US
and Britain have carried out several aerial attacks against Houthi positions in
response.
The White House finds itself in an awkward position, needing to show deterrence while avoiding an open war
Sunday’s attack took the US by surprise. The fact that the
strike took place on Jordanian territory is also essential. President Joe Biden
and the Pentagon promised to retaliate, but Republican lawmakers and the
right-wing media want him to strike Iran, which has denied any connection to
the incident. Tehran said that resistance groups are the ones that have decided
to respond to the US military presence in the region, not itself. The White
House finds itself in an awkward position, needing to show deterrence while
avoiding an open war with Iran and its proxies.
The US has retaliated in the past few weeks with strikes
against forces at the Al-Asad and Irbil airbases in Iraq. The most serious was
last month’s strike on a Kata’ib Hezbollah base in Baghdad, which killed at
least one senior official and wounded 18, including civilians. The Iraqi
government protested the US strike, calling it an “unacceptable attack on Iraqi
sovereignty” that would “harm bilateral relations.” Since then, Iraqi Prime
Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has requested that negotiations should begin
to end the US military presence in Iraq.
Meanwhile, US media reports have stated that Washington is
also considering pulling out of northeastern Syria.
The main question is how the US will retaliate. National
Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that America is not
looking to go to war with Iran, nor does it want to expand the regional
conflict.
Sunday’s attack raises many challenges for the US. First,
its military has been in this region for decades, toppling Saddam Hussein and
triggering a sectarian war in Iraq, while incriminating itself in war crimes.
After destroying Iraq, it allowed Iran to play a crucial role in the country’s
politics, resulting in what we have today: multiple nonstate actors that are
supported by Iran and are ideologically against the US presence, not only in
Iraq but the region.
Second, the US has launched wars or been involved in them
from Afghanistan to Libya and from Yemen to Somalia and Syria, with one clear
outcome: the creation of failed states. This has enabled proxy groups and
nonstate actors and led to the death or displacement of millions of innocent
civilians. Other than triggering wars, the US has had no clear regional
strategic objective. It has alienated its traditional allies and created
anti-US sentiments across the region.
Attack on US base should prompt Washington to rethink its Mideast strategy
Third, in this latest
Israeli aggression on Gaza, the US has
sided, as usual, with the aggressor without any consideration of how the people
of the region will feel. They may not like Iran and its proxies, but
opposition to Israel’s bloodbath in Gaza has created so much grassroots support for the
so-called resistance front that it also puts pressure on America’s allies in
the region, which have to answer to their citizens.
Still, the Middle East is changing and leaders are learning
the lessons of the past. One immediate outcome of this is that leaders now
affirm there will not be any regional stability so long as the Palestinian
cause remains unresolved. This is the position of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE,
Jordan and other Arab and regional players. This is a message that Washington
has refused to understand. The neocons in the US Congress and right-wing media,
who believe the US can club together an anti-Iran coalition, triggering another
costly war in the region, are not only delusional but simply wrong. The leaders
in the area have learned their lessons. “Never again” also means never
repeating the mistakes of the past.
The
Gaza war has been an eye-opener for millions of people
around the world. The region’s leaders have also absorbed the lessons. The US
Middle East policy has delivered chaos and radicalism since the 1990s.
America’s blind bias in favor of Israel has turned it into an accessory to war
crimes and now an allegation of enabling genocide.
The US must stop viewing the region from an Israeli
perspective if it wants to build genuine and lasting alliances with countries
in this part of the world. Today’s leaders are aware of their geopolitical
options, opening up to Russia and China while also keeping links to the US.
Suppose the US has an agenda for the region. In that case, it must consider
what the vast majority of the people of this region want. A resolution to the
Palestinian question in a just and viable way would be a significant step in the
right direction.
A direct attack on Iran should not be on the cards for the
US. An all-out regional war is something that helps
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objective of dragging everyone into a conflict that serves
no one’s interests but his. Instead, the US should examine its national
interests in a fast-changing region, in which leaders opt to resolve their
differences through diplomacy.
America’s 30-year military engagement in the region has been
toxic and disruptive. No one here wants to see another war flaring up. Instead,
leaders want a durable and just resolution to the core of regional instability;
something the Palestinians will accept so that other non-state actors stop
using them as an excuse to destabilize the region. Washington needs to rethink
its Middle East strategy after Sunday’s attack.
Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.
Disclaimer:
Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Jordan News' point of view.
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