Biden wants to threaten Iran by
militarism to pave way for negotiation

The United States on Thursday carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria against buildings belonging to what the Pentagon claimed were Iran-backed militias responsible for recent attacks against American and allied personnel in Iraq, according to The New York Times.

President Biden authorized the strikes in response to the rocketing in Iraq and to continuing threats to American and coalition personnel there, said John F. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, who spoke with reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III in California.

A rocket attack on Feb. 15 on the airport in Erbil, in northern Iraq, killed a Filipino contractor with the American-led military coalition and wounded six others, including a Louisiana National Guard soldier and four American contractors.

American officials said the strikes were a relatively small, carefully calibrated military response: seven 500-pound bombs dropped on a small cluster of buildings at an unofficial crossing at the Syria-Iraq border used to smuggle across weapons and fighters.

The strikes were just over the border in Syria to avoid diplomatic blowback to the Iraqi government. The Pentagon offered up larger groups of targets but Mr. Biden approved a less aggressive option, American officials said.

“Biden tries to indicate that he does not rely only on diplomacy with Tehran, and instead, he can use militarism against Iran as a tool to bring Iranian officials to the negotiation table,” Director General of the Beirut Center for Strategic Studies Talal Atrisi said in an exclusive interview with Qods News Agency.

“In other words, he is applying two different strategies towards Iran, one of which is the negotiation with Iran and the other one is the military pressure against Tehran’s allies,” he added.

Talking about possible goals behind the recent attack, Atrisi also noted that “the US may plan to prepare the ground to bring terrorist elements to the Iraq soil, as previously Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, as well as Kata'ib Hezbollah group, were protecting Iraq against terrorist groups.”

Speaking to Qods News Agency about airstrikes in eastern Syria in an Irish political analyst, Dr. Declan Hayes asserted that the attack was provoked by Israelis.

“Biden's cabinet is full of war hawks totally in lockstep with Israel's various terrorist endeavors. Russia had issued a very stern warning to Israel about the terrorist attacks of Israel's air force against civilians, military and paramilitaries in both Lebanon and Syria. That Israel has now put the US air force in the front line is very worrying for world peace as only Russia and China can effectively combat full-on US aggression. The only positive in this is the USA is a fading economic power,” he said.

The Irish university professor went on to say that “the American regime has made no secret of its long term plans to emasculate Iran. The USA practices only hegemony, not co-existence or mutual respect.”

“History tells us that the USA, no more than Israel, can be trusted,” Hayes stressed.

Referring to previous Israel attacks in Syria and violating, Declan Hayes also said that “Israel, as always, has set the precedent by illegally bombing Syria and Lebanon and, lest we forget, assassinating civilians in Iran and Syria. The USA now feels fully emboldened to commit more murder and other war crimes in Syria even as it tries to curtail the options Syria, Iran and other countries working for peace have.”

“The USA must learn that war crimes, such as they regularly commit, deserve commensurate punishment even at the hands of those who most desire peace with justice rather than peace at any price,” he added.