US, Iranian Militias Trade Blows in Syria // FAI ONLINE

US warplanes pummeled a facility in Syria used by Iranian-sponsored militias last Wednesday, after two suicide drones targeted American and Syrian rebel forces at the Al-Tanf base in southern Syria on August 15. One drone was shot down, while the other successfully impacted the ground inside the base, causing no damage or casualties.

The Pentagon released a recorded video of the August 24 strike, which showed multiple explosions impacting several large structures near Deir Ezzor, a town in eastern Syria near the border with Syrian Kurdistan. Deir Ezzor straddles the Euphrates River, and is where the ISIS caliphate was finally vanquished in 2017. The side of the city on the southern banks of the river is a known Iranian stronghold inside Syria, acting as a key link in the chain of Iranian militant activity which runs from the capital of Tehran to the borders of Israel in Lebanon and the Golan Heights.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) quickly released a statement justifying Wednesday’s strike: “At President Biden's direction, US military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect US forces from attacks like the ones on August 15 against US personnel by Iran-backed groups.” There was no report of the number of casualties or specific damage as a result of the strike.

An unidentified militia (presumed to be aligned with Iran) retaliated against the US airstrikes on Wednesday by launching rockets and mortars against a US base near the Conoco gas field in Northeast Syria (a.k.a. Rojava), lightly wounding 3 US service members. US Apache helicopters responded with attacks against militia positions nearby, destroying seven rocket launchers and killing four militiamen. An unnamed US official stated that “all the militants who were killed in the recent US airstrikes in Syria are members of the militia groups affiliated to IRGC & from other nationalities. No Iranian casualties [occurred] based on our initial assessment.” US air activity continued on Thursday and Friday in the area around Deir Ezzor, showing that the situation remains tense, and the Coalition expects further responses from the militias.

The United States maintains a small force of approximately 900 servicemembers inside Syria, mostly concentrated around the Al-Tanf base in the south, where the Coalition partners with a force of moderate Syrian rebels, and also around oil and gas fields in the northeast, protecting Rojava’s main supply of energy and revenue. The tit-for-tat strikes come at a crucial time for the Iranian nuclear deal (officially the JCPOA), while European intermediaries are trying to finalize an “eleventh-hour” agreement, which has remained elusive since US President Biden took office in 2021. There is no indication at this time that the airstrikes have impacted the JCPOA, which includes provisions which unfreeze Iranian assets and allow for the resumption of oil sales, promising a windfall of over $1 trillion USD. Iran has previously used state revenue to fund Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps programs across the Middle East, including partnerships with Lebanese Hezbollah, Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Shi’a militias in Syria and Iraq which are antagonistic towards Western nations and moderate Arab states.

As incidents of war, strife, earthquakes and famines continue to mount across the Middle East, we would ask the Maranatha global community to continue in prayer for unreached people groups across the region. We pray for the schemes of the enemy to be restrained, for divine wisdom to be granted to international leaders, and for each calamity and catastrophe to open “wide, effectual doors” for laborers of the Mideast harvest fields.

Maranatha.