Biden and the Syrian Airstrikes

On Thursday Feb. 25, the U.S. carried out airstrikes on Eastern Syrian buildings. The Pentagon stated that the buildings that were striked were reportedly Iran-backed militias that attacked American and allied personnel in Iraq.

President Biden authorized the strike after the rocking that was happening in Iraq and the continuous threats to the Americans and coalition that are stationed there. The rocket that Iraq sent was sent on Monday Feb. 15 and it killed a Filipino contractor working with American-led military coalition and wounded six others.

The strikes were small and carefully calibrated, according to American officials. On a small cluster of buildings, seven 500-pound bombs were dropped at the unofficial border of Syria and Iraq. Due to the buildings being just over the Syrian border, the Iraqi government avoided major diplomatic blowback from the strikes.

Officials say that it was actually better to strike Syria instead of Iraq because that would avoid issues with the Iraqi government, which is a key part in the efforts to take down ISIS.

Some American officials offered to take out larger groups of targets, but President Biden did not approve of those methods because it was too aggressive. He ended up going with the less aggressive option, which was carried out.

The retaliation from the U.S. was meant to punish the perpetrators of the strike, not to add to the tension of the situation with Iran.

The Biden administration is also going to renew talks on a nuclear deal that the last U.S. President Donald Trump sheleved during his presidency. President Biden and his administration’s whole goal is to relieve the tension with Northern Syria and Iran.

Also to make sure to keep good relations between the U.S. and Iran Presidents, President Biden and Iran’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had a phone call and both agreed that the perpetrators needed to be punished for such attacks.

A group called Awliya al Dam, or Guardian of the Blood, takes claim of the rocket attack on the Erbil airport. They are a little-known group that no one knows much about. That includes not knowing whether or not the group is backed by Iran or any other groups or organizations that used the buildings that the U.S. striked. Some American officials think that they are a front for other more powerful and known Shia militias.