Why it's impossible to unpick US attacks in Syria from the unfolding war

Airstrikes by the United States on Iranian-linked targets in Syria are the most vivid example yet of the potential for Israel’s war with Hamas to ignite a much wider regional conflict.

Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, stressed the attacks in the early hours of Friday morning by American warplanes against two sites holding weapons and ammunition in eastern Syria were “separate and distinct” from the Israel-Hamas crisis.

Yet the reality is that a common thread runs through both arenas in the form of Iran.

The US was responding to a surge in the past 10 days in attacks against its troops based in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups.

That uptick coincides with a flare up of violence between Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel in the wake of the Israeli offensive against Hamas, which also has ties to Tehran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is known to operate a shadowy network of proxy armies across the Middle East, which conduct hostile activity against Israel, the United States and other western countries deemed to be foes, including the UK.

Into this mix comes Russia, which has a close relationship with Iran – made even stronger by Moscow’s reliance on military support from Tehran, including drones and ammunition, for its war in Ukraine.

That conflict too pitches Iran and Russia against the United States and its allies, which are key backers of the Kyiv government.

It all means that it is impossible to unpick the US attacks against Iranian-linked targets in Syria from the unfolding war between Israel and Hamas regardless of what Washington has said.

The big question is whether the airstrikes will be enough to deter Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria from continuing to go after US military targets.

There have already been 19 such attacks since 17 October, according to The Pentagon.

Most were unsuccessful, but one US civilian contractor died following a “cardiac incident” while they were taking shelter and 21 US service personnel have suffered minor injuries, though they are all back at work.

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Wanting to deter the threat of Israel’s war leading to uncontrolled escalation with enemies in the region, most notably Iran, the United States has already moved two carrier strike groups into the area and is rushing in more air defence systems to protect US interests.

Israel appears to have heeded requests from Washington to delay a planned ground invasion of Gaza while steps are taken to contain the potential fallout.

But limited raids into the Palestinian enclave have already started, signalling the full ground assault could come very soon.

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