The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed on the 18th local time that U.S. military units and facilities in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 101 times in about two months since mid-October.
Of these, the U.S. military was attacked 46 times in Iraq and 55 times in Syria.
Screenshot of the report by Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya TV **.
The attack on the US military is almost synchronized with the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the cause and effect of this is self-evident.
The public ** in so many countries ** is hostile".
Since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States, as a crucial third party to the Palestinian-Israeli issue, has been trying its best to package this catastrophe, which has caused more and more innocent civilians, as an "Israeli war of self-defense".
While condoning the continuation of the fighting, they claim to care about the safety and humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza. This American-style performance has made the world see clearly what self-deception is.
On the Palestinian-Israeli issue, even the most hardcore allies are now distancing themselves from the United States.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on the 12th, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 153 countries, including Australia, voted in favour.
The Washington Post** Picture: Only 10 countries, including the United States and Israel, voted against it, while another 23 abstained.
Not only that, but CNN also mentioned that on the day of the vote, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, three of America's "closest allies", took a highly symbolic move: calling for urgent action for a ceasefire in Gaza, despite Washington's attitude.
Even Britain, whose foreign policy is almost always on the side of the United States, is betting on both sides: it had previously abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire that was vetoed by the United States.
According to the report, this is enough to show that the Palestinian-Israeli issue has triggered a rare ** within the "Five Eyes" alliance. Biden **feels the political cost of supporting Israel".
Screenshot of CNN report.
An article in the Washington Post also mentions the issue of "the cost of supporting Israel."
As the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to rise, Washington is beginning to hear constant complaints and criticisms, "not only from friends, but from all over the world," the article saidNot only internationally, but also domestically".
The most obvious isolation occurs in international arenas such as the United Nations, where the United States is practically the only country that opposes the Security Council's resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. ”
The Washington Post article "Biden's support for Israel could cost U.S. foreign policy."
The article mentions that since the early 70s of the last century, the United States has vetoed dozens of UN resolutions that are considered critical of Israel.
In this regard, Ivo Dahlde, chairman of the Chicago Committee on Global Affairs, pointed out that "the United States is basically isolated on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and it has been so for a long time."
An anonymous U.S. senior believes that "the cost of diplomacy is an intangible thing" and that the United States always wants other countries to look favorably and support itself, but "when the public in so many countries is hostile, it is more difficult for us to win support on the issues we care about."
Screenshot of the Washington Post report.
The U.S. military is not keeping peace on the ground",
If the United States' "double standard" approach in the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has become the fuse for frequent attacks on US troops stationed in the Middle East, then the long-term US military presence in the Middle East is itself a powder keg.
Al-Arabiya TV**: The United States currently has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 troops in Syria.
Twelve years ago, Syria erupted in the midst of the Western-instigated "Arab Spring" color revolutions.
To this day, the United States still retains illegal troops in Syria that support Syria's leading forces, occupies Syria's main oil-producing areas, and plunders more than eighty percent of its oil production.
Syrian News Agency: On December 17, the illegal U.S. military presence in Syria again used 40 trucks to transport stolen oil to U.S. military bases in Iraq. On the same day, another convoy of 55 trucks loaded with stolen wheat bran was heading for Iraq through illegal border crossings.
At the same time, the United States continues to impose illegal unilateral sanctions on Syria, which has made Syria's economy and people's livelihood unable to extricate itself from difficulties for a long time, and the humanitarian crisis has worsened.
Savile, co-director of the "Costs of War" project at Brown University in the United States, criticized and pointed out that the United States has not given up its maximum pressure on Syria, which is a typical manifestation of its "global war on terror" that continues to harm the people of the Middle East.
Screenshot of Savile Social**.
And in Iraq, it is needless to say what the hegemony, bullying, and hegemony of the United States have brought to this country over the years.
In December 2021, Iraq announced that the warfighters of the foreign team in Iraq had ended their mission and would be evacuated. But to this day, there are still US troops remaining in Iraq in the name of "counter-terrorism".
CNN: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Iraq in March to keep the 2,500 U.S. troops "invited to help Iraq counter terrorism."
With the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the US military presence has once again become the focus of Iraq.
In the past two months, a number of US military bases in Iraq have been attacked by drones and rockets. Iraq's militias have claimed responsibility for the attacks and reiterated their opposition to the continued presence of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
The Quincy Institute for Statecraft, a U.S. think tank, pointed out in an article that after the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the White House and the Pentagon not only did not cool down the situation, but doubled down on their bets, deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in the eastern Mediterranean, carried out air strikes on Syria, and sent an additional 1,200 troops to the local area.
This suggests that "the long-term deployment of the US military overseas is driven by policy inertia rather than strategic necessity."
And on this issue, Afghanistan has already provided an important lesson for the United States: after the withdrawal of American troops in August 2021, many people thought that the conflict in the country would intensify. But the opposite is true, in the first year after the withdrawal of US troops, political violence in Afghanistan has been reduced by 80 percent.
Screenshot of the article by the Quincy Institute of Statecraft.
The same situation applies to Iraq and Syria, the article argues.
It turns out that the US military presence in these two countries does not "preserve peace." And the backlash in the Middle East from the current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict suggests that the White House should abandon, rather than strengthen, its "outdated and unnecessarily provocative" military presence in Syria and Iraq.
Screenshot of the article by the Quincy Institute of Statecraft.