ANALYSIS: Trump’s actions in Iraq and Syria recipe for disaster

The president’s actions show he is out of touch with Middle East reality.

By Yochanan Visser, INN

US Defense Secretary James Mattis looks at US President Donald Trump

A week after he stunned not only the world but also his national security team by announcing he would reverse his new Syria policy and pull out all US troops from there, US President Donald Trump made another move which could destabilize the Middle East even further.

The President suddenly canceled his vacation at his private resort in Florida and flew to Iraq to pay a visit to the al-Asad airbase in Western Iraq which is home to a regiment US Special Forces.

Before and during his visit to the base, Trump again demonstrated that he’s out of touch with reality in the Middle East and doesn’t get the overall picture.

Talking about his bombshell decision to pull US soldiers out of Syria, the President said “we want to fight where it is meaningful” and then explained that he had given his military brass in Syria an additional six months several times in order to finish off the Islamic State group.

“Eight years ago, we went there for three months and we never left, now we’re doing it right and we’re going to finish it off,”Trump said. He claimed Israel could defend itself from the growing threat to its security from Syria posed by Iran and Russia because it receives $4,5 billion in US military aid each year.

He then said Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had promised him to finish off “the last remnants” of ISIS and that the US military would be able to control the situation in Syria from Iraq.

There are a few problems with Trump’s thoughts about the American strategy in both Iraq and Syria.

First of all, although the Turkish dictator this week affirmed he would go after these last remnants, his main goal is to finish off the Kurdish autonomy drive in Syria.

The Turkish army is currently amassing troops along the border with Syria in the area of Manbij, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In fact, Turkish tanks have already crossed the border while Turkey is also mobilizing its Islamist proxies in Syria to go after the Kurds.

The US Special Forces and the SDF are in control of roughly one-third of Syrian territory and form a buffer against the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Shiite militias which are trying to expand their control over the Iraqi border.

This is done to complete the land bridge which Iran needs to transfer troops and weapons to the Israeli border without the use of the civilian airplanes. These planes deliver weapons to the Quds Force, Hezbollah and the Shiite militias via the international airports of Damascus and Beirut.

Until now the Israeli air force (IAF) has been able to destroy most of these weapon transports, as was proven on Tuesday when the IAF again bombed Iranian weapon storehouses in the vicinity of Damascus. This was done despite the delivery of the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile shield to the Syrian army.

Israel attacked the storehouses from Lebanese airspace using six F-16 warplanes which launched air-to-surface missiles at their targets in Syria.

Then there is Iraq, where Trump drew the ire of the Iraqi government and the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi umbrella organization of Shiite militias by visiting the Al-Assad base.

The President was not willing to pay a visit to Iraq’s new Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi in his residence in Baghdad and instead invited him to the al-Assad base, an offer Mahdi declined.

The Iraqi PM later released a statement that said there had been a “disagreement over how to conduct the meeting.”

Other Iraqi politicians were less diplomatic and said Trump’s visit constituted a “blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”

Sabah al Saadi, the leader of the Islah parliamentary bloc, angrily called for an emergency meeting of the Iraqi parliament “to discuss this blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and to stop these aggressive actions by Trump who should know his limits: the US occupation of Iraq is over.”

The Islah bloc won the Iraqi elections and is led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who is strongly opposed to the American presence in Iraq.

The Iranian-backed Bina party also issued a statement which said Trump’s visit was “a flagrant and clear violation of diplomatic norms and shows his disdain and hostility in his dealings with the Iraqi government.”

A majority of Iraqi MP’s now demand the government expel the US army from Iraq/ As a spokesman for the Hashd al-Shaabi militia Hezbollah al-Nujaba said Trump’s move would not remain “unpunished”.

A short while later the American embassy in Baghdad’s so-called Green Zone was targetedby artillery shells.

The heavy fortification of the compound of the embassy prevented damage and casualties, but the message was clear: Get out of Iraq!

Hashd al-Shaabi has been calling for the expulsion of the US army from Iraq for months and has threatened to use its Iranian-supplied missiles to attack the American Special Forces.

By going to Iraq in this fashion, Trump not only risked upsetting the delicate balance of power in Iraq where Iran is constantly meddling in internal Iraqi affairs and where the political climate is becoming increasingly anti-American, he also endangered his own forces.

The President breached security protocol of the US army by posting a video clip showing his photo session with members of the Navy Seal Team Five Special Forces unit without the obligatory blurred faces.

Pentagon officials were reportedly outraged about the publication of the clip which revealed details about which Seal team is stationed in Iraq.

December 29, 2018 | 25 Comments »

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  1. Is that the official position of Israel? That ISIS is quite all right as far as Israel is concerned. It has always been the spinelessness of others on Israpundit over say at least 10 years that has allowed this total fool to push this horrific material forward. Nobody says boo to this stuff. It is incredible. Horrific actually for the Jews of Israel. Let it be known that there has been one person who has challenged her or him or whoever may be. To be supportive of ISIS is worse than reactionary it is tragic for Jews.

  2. @ Michael S:

    Like getting two for the price of one -both block-headed. Assad’s invitation..suitably inscribed on stiff gilt edged paper, I hope…must have been a real work of art…..like the “host”……

  3. @ Felix Quigley:

    Comrad Felix, Assad is directly responsible for the murder and death of over a half million Syrian countrymen. 5 million refugees and 11 million displaced persons. By any standard comrade Felix, he is a war criminal….The cost of rebuilding Syria is from 400-500 billion $$$. Of All Israel’s regional enemies, the Syrians were the worst and most intransigent. i don’t want to go into what they did to Israeli prisoners of war. Did it ever occur to you that the BS that white helmets and ISIS used poison gas was probably Russian disinformation to protect their patron, Assad? You commies are pathetic and no mass murder is beneath your support for political gain and advantage. You are devoid of civilized values, ethics, and brains (subhuman ISIS WAS NEVER A SERIOUS THREAT TO ISRAEL BUT THEY WERE TO ASSAD AND THAT WAS GOOD WHILE IT LASTED BUT ALL NOT TOTALLY LOST THEY ARE STILL THERE WITH NOT MUCH TERRITORY BUT THE STILL CONTROL SOME AND WITH 30.OOO FIGHTERS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA THEY WILL RETURN SOONER OR LATER THE FULL STORY NOT YET WRITTEN. SINCE TRUMP’S BETRAYAL OF ISRAEL LOOKS LIKE WE WILL HAVE TO WORK WITH PUTIN AND IF THAT DOESN’T WORK…… lET’S PUT IT THIS WAY IS PUTIN PREPARED TO LOSE MOSCOW AND ST PETERBURG IN A MUSHROOM CLOUD OVER SYRIA?

    AS TO CUT AN PASTE IT’S A HANDY MECHANISM TO TRANSFER INFORMATION IN TOTAL OR PART AND YOU USE IT YOURSELF AND i MAY SAY YOU SHOULD USE CUT AND PASTE MOR OFTEN DUE TO LACK OF COHERENCE AND LOGIC IN MOST THE CRAPOLA YOU HAVE EVER POSTED HERE.

  4. @ Felix Quigley:

    Felix…. I think you are being a little pedantic here. The whole large area is in a long- lasting turmoil, and invitations by a titular individual who has no authority there, nor has had for many years…means exactly nothing. Rule there shifts according to the disposition of a large, varied number of groups, who ally and split like a group of amoebas.

    As for the main item, it’s openly obvious that the Russian mercenaries invaded the area and came up against the Americans and their allies. The Russians didn’t arrive at that spot accidentally or by invitation, and their repulsion was not accidental, but an act of self-defence by those attacked.

    What could be more obvious….?

  5. The USA never claimed the destruction of the Russian, Syrian, Hezi force was an accident. They warned the Russians and the Russians playing the same game they have played elsewhere (eg. Ukraine) tried to deny responsibility because the Russian trained force of Russian mercenaries is used for deniability for both international and domestic Russian political reasons.

  6. The Russian Mercenaries and Hezbollah that attacked the USA soldiers and SDF troops were not killed by accident. They were destroyed by F-22s, US artillery and the SDF (mostly Kurds). There were way more than 150 killed (estimates up to 300 killed). 500 crossed the Euphrates and few wounded managed to get back. Here is a report of what occurred below:

    US military officials repeatedly warned about the growing mass of troops. But Russian military officials said they had no control over the fighters assembling near the river – even though US surveillance equipment monitoring radio transmissions had revealed the ground force was speaking in Russian.

    The documents described the fighters as a “pro-regime force,” loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. It included some Syrian government soldiers and militias, but US military and intelligence officials have said a majority were private Russian paramilitary mercenaries – and most likely a part of the Wagner Group, a company often used by the Kremlin to carry out objectives that officials do not want to be connected to the Russian government.

    “The Russian high command in Syria assured us it was not their people,” defence secretary Jim Mattis told senators in testimony last month. He said he directed Gen Joseph F Dunford Jr, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, “for the force, then, to be annihilated.”

    “And it was.”

    The day began with little hint of the battle that was about to unfold.

    A team of about 30 Delta Force soldiers and Rangers from the Joint Special Operations Command were working alongside Kurdish and Arab forces at a small dusty outpost next to a Conoco gas plant, near the city of Deir el-Zour.

    Roughly 20 miles away, at a base known as a mission support site, a team of Green Berets and a platoon of infantry Marines stared at their computer screens, watching drone feeds and passing information to the Americans at the gas plant about the gathering fighters.

    At 3pm the Syrian force began edging towards the Conoco plant. By early evening, more than 500 troops and 27 vehicles – including tanks and armoured personnel carriers – had amassed.

    In the US air operations centre at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and at the Pentagon, confounded military officers and intelligence analysts watched the scene unfold. Commanders briefed pilots and ground crews. Aircraft across the region were placed on alert, military officials said.

    Back at the mission support site, the Green Berets and Marines were preparing a small reaction force – roughly 16 troops in four mine-resistant vehicles – in case they were needed at the Conoco plant. They inspected their weapons and ensured the trucks were loaded with anti-tank missiles, thermal optics and food and water.
    Syria bombings: US, UK and French military air strikes wreckage
    Show all 13

    At 8:30pm, three Russian-made T-72 tanks – vehicles weighing nearly 50 tons and armed with 125-millimeter guns – moved within a mile of the Conoco plant. Bracing for an attack, the Green Berets prepared to launch the reaction force.

    At the outpost, US soldiers watched a column of tanks and other armoured vehicles turn and drive towards them around 10pm, emerging from a neighbourhood of houses where they had tried to gather undetected.

    Half an hour later, the Russian mercenaries and Syrian forces struck.

    The Conoco outpost was hit with a mixture of tank fire, large artillery and mortar rounds, the documents show. The air was filled with dust and shrapnel. The US commandos took cover, then ran behind dirt berms to fire anti-tank missiles and machine guns at the advancing column of armoured vehicles.

    For the first 15 minutes, US military officials called their Russian counterparts and urged them to stop the attack. When that failed, US troops fired warning shots at a group of vehicles and a howitzer.

    Still the troops advanced.

    US warplanes arrived in waves, including Reaper drones, F-22 stealth fighter jets, F-15E Strike Fighters, B-52 bombers, AC-130 gunships and AH-64 Apache helicopters. For the next three hours, US officials said, scores of strikes pummeled enemy troops, tanks and other vehicles. Marine rocket artillery was fired from the ground. Continue reading the whole article at.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/battle-syria-us-russian-mercenaries-commandos-islamic-state-a8370781.html

  7. It is interesting to me that this woman calling herself “Yamit82” is for decades the copy paste manic on Israpundit continually skimming the surface of events. Just remember that she is selective always quoting the worst lying sources, as in 2013 she was desperate for the defeat of Assad, blaming gas attacks on Assad, and later these gas attacks were accepted by all I know as being the work of ISIS and the White Helmet theatre group. Track “Yamit82” and you will find a continual echo of CIA propaganda.

  8. It is interesting to me that the last episode I had with “Adam Dalgliesh” was when he was attacking Karl Marx, and before that was trying to rubbish Leon Trotsky, that is he was trying to rubbish socialism.

    But here this person is caught out peddling a lie on behalf of American Imperialist interests. And forced to admit it too.

    The moral be careful when you lie against Marx and Trotsky.

    All the same the meaning of Edgar that the Americans in Syria were engaged in self defence against Russia and Assad takes some thinking about as well. I thought they were there fighting against ISIS. Trump was supposed to have changed from the policy of Obama who WAS a Jihadist in total.

  9. Edgar you took up correctly this rubbishthat it was an accident. You write though

    “For the US to call it an “accident” , glaringly and obviously for political reasons, that’s no reason for you to try to pull the wool over the eyes of your most beloved and trusting admirers…. when you actually know it was no accident but deliberate self- defence against lethal attackers. …Tut. It’s like the accident that occurs in a boxing match, when Joe Palooka accidentally hits his opponent’s fist with his jaw…..

    But I do not understand that it was self defence either.

    It was a vicious act by Trump and his people at the service of American Imperialism. It was similar to his lies about the poison gas of Assad, a total lie, also his lies about the White Helmets.

    See the website http://www.hirhome.com for a refutation of these lies by Trump.

    People must remember that the Russian troops were invited in by the rightful ruler of Syria Assad. The Americans were NEVER invited in by Assad.

    They were placed there by a Jihadist one Obama. And at the time Trump was opposing this policy of Obama.

    These are basic truths that I see being confused, not just by the direct lie by Alan but also the suggestion it was self defence.

    If you want complete truth you also have to ask what was Netanyahu and the Israeli leaders doing at this time…they were indeed supporting ISIS. They let the massacres of Yazedis and others go on while keeping silent. And they gave aid to ISIS at the border. Against Assad.

  10. Scrap over Manbij opens door for Russia and Assad’s troops to take control of NE. Syria

    One of Bashar Assad’s best weeks in years – and one of Tayyip Erdogan’s worst – peaked on Friday, Dec. 28. The US exit from NE Syria announced by President Donald Trump on Dec. 19 left an irresistible void for multiple forces to close in, even before a single American soldier was actually lifted off Syrian soil. In the wake of that announcement, the UAE cancelled its plans to send troops into northern Syria and instead reopened its embassy in Damascus for the resumption of normal relations, after years of backing the Syrian rebellion against the Assad regime. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources have learned that Saudi Arabia will shortly follow suit. The two Gulf nations are therefore lining up behind Trump’s new Syrian policy.

    Encouraged by the hoisting of the UAE flag over its Damascus embassy, Bashar Assad ordered his army on Friday to advance on the northern flashpoint town of Manbij which had been lost to him for most years of the civil war. A Syrian army vanguard has already reached the town’s outskirts, drawing to a halt at its southern entrance. Kurdish YPG militiamen raised the Syrian flag over the town center, after the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian Arab Army (SAA) reached deal with the Syrian government to ward off the threatened Turkish invasion of this border town.

    DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources can reveal that Russian officers are attached to the command of the Syrian units at the gates of Manbij, This is highly significant because, before accepting the Kurdish request, Assad also sought and received the consent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In no time, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, went on record to call Assad’s move a “positive step” that could help stabilize the situation. No surprise there, since the Russians now see their way for the first time to crossing the Euphrates River into northeastern Syria. This move would finally bury the Putin-Obama deal which split Syria between the two powers – Russia in the west and the US east of the Euphrates.

    The Assad Kurdish deal for the transfer of Manbij to the Syrian government is a stinging setback from Turkish President Erdogan, the second in a month. He was first convinced that he had President Trump’s approval, after the US exit, for his army to move in on Kurdish turf in northeastern Syria, cross the Euphrates and take their capital of Qamishli. Trump did not explicitly dispel this impression. But when a high-ranking US delegation promised to arrive in Ankara and coordinate US-Turkish military moves never turned up, the Turkish leader began to see his plans going up in smoke.

    He reacted by announcing on Tuesday, Dec. 25 that he was heading to Moscow to discuss with Putin the crisis over the forthcoming US troop pullout and his plan to move the Turkish army across the Euphrates. But then came a slap from the Kremlin. Peskov said that the Russian president’s schedule for the coming days was full.

    Bereft of support from either Trump or Putin, Erdogan announced that a Turkish delegation of his top officials would travel to Moscow on Saturday, Dec. 29. Led by Defense Minister Gen. Hulusi Akar, Director of MIT intelligence Hakan Fidan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The day before the delegation left, the Syrian army reached the outskirts of the key border town of Manbij. In a belated show of muscle, Erdogan ordered Turkey’s Syrian rebel allies – mostly Turkoman militias – to “launch their Manbij offensive.” Moscow is not likely to be impressed.

  11. According to Israeli security experts, the US withdrawal has left Israel alone in the battle against Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria. True enough, but this setback can potentially entail an important silver lining. For the sooner Israel recognizes the precariousness of a regional “Pax Americana,” the sooner it will grasp the futility of “painful territorial concessions” in the West Bank, let alone on the Golan Heights.

    What Israel needs most from the US at the present time is political and diplomatic backing in support of its vital national interests, primarily 1) support for its continued hold of the Golan as a vital condition for its defense; and 2) cessation of pressure for further territorial withdrawals in the West Bank. With luck, Trump’s Syria turnaround might catalyze a shift in US regional strategy in this direction.

  12. @ Edgar G.:
    Hi, Edgar.

    Yes, it was still called Yugoslavia, the remnant of Tito’s country. It consisted of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro; and Serbia included the districts of Kosovo and Vojvodinia. Republika Srbska was formed by the Serbian plurality in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but was under NATO & Russian occupation. Macedonia was lured into independence by the prospect of eventually joining the EU. During the war, Montenegro and Kosovo were ripped away, so what was left was called “Serbia”.

    I saw the war as primarily promoted by the Germans, who stood the most to gain. It was the first time since WWII, that German troops were stationed in Yugoslavia. As far as I’m concerned, it was an American national disgrace.

    At that time, China was bending over backwards to join the WTO and join the world club. When we bombed their embassy, they took out their handkerchief and wiped the spit off their face.

  13. @ Michael S:

    I don’t think Yugoslavia existed by that time, except in name, being only Serbia and Montenegro I think. It was really Serbia where they bombed those helpless civilians – a disgrace to civilisation..

    And I always believed that the Chinese Embassy bombing WAS a genuine mistake. It would have been dangerous to meddle blatantly with China even then…

  14. @ Edgar G.:
    Edgar, these acincidents happen all the time — like when NATO troops attacking Yugoslavia in the 1990s “accidentally” destroyed the Chinese embassy in neighboring Bulgaria. My favorite, was when the Serbs downed the pride of the US Air Force, an F-22 stealth fighter. One pro-Serbian blogger said,

    “Sorry about the stealth. We didn’t see it!”

  15. @ adamdalgliesh:

    For the US to call it an “accident” , glaringly and obviously for political reasons, that’s no reason for you to try to pull the wool over the eyes of your most beloved and trusting admirers…. when you actually know it was no accident but deliberate self- defence against lethal attackers. …Tut. It’s like the accident that occurs in a boxing match, when Joe Palooka accidentally hits his opponent’s fist with his jaw…..

    Again, tut……tut…!!

  16. An especially thorny problem for Trump to resolve was, what do I do if Turkey goes its head with its plan to attack the Kurdish forces while American forces were still embedded with them? Being dragged into a war with Turkey could be an especially difficult situation for the U.S. with thousands of U.S. troops stationed in Turkey, whom Erdogan could take as hostages if a Turco-American war broke out. On the other hand, If Trump did nothing while Turkish planes bombed U.S. planes in Syria, that wouldn’t make Trumo look good at home, and would humiliate the U.S. abroad. the U.S. abroad. In his phone conversation with Trump, Erdogan came close to warning him that Turkey would attack the Kurds soon even if American soldiers were still embedded with them.

  17. @ Edgar G.: I think the U.S. depart of Defense spokesman did call it an “accident” to avoid a severe diplomatic incident with Russia. The DoD didn’t deny that the U.S. forces bombed the convoy, but claimed they thought it was carry ISIS men, and denied they new the soldiers were Russian. Hence the word “accident,” although nobody took that very seriously, least of all of course the Russians. But Trump knew tha the Russians had not forotten the in[ac]cident, and that a similar ‘accident” might befall American soldiers at any time. The Russians, Syrians, Turks, etc., could always claim that they thought the American soldiers whom they bombed were ISIS, too. The presence of ISIS forces gives everyone in Syria some sort of excuse to do whatever it is they want to do.

  18. @ Edgar G.:
    @ adamdalgliesh:

    Why do you say they were “accidentally ” killed.?? I suspect that you have info that we don’t…? Please elaborate. Also, assuming that it was accidental, how could they otherwise have acted, to stop the attackers/invaders moving in on the oilfields that the US guys were protecting from this very possibility.. I must say, that this is the first time that “accidental” has cropped up. (it was actually in self-defence..) I never thought that on a battlefield any killing was accidental…except when the IDF, overseen by a gaggle of lawyers are in “action”….

    (if lethargic, restrained movement can be called that-the IDF agianst Hamas reminded me of the medical description of “peristalsis”)

  19. I still consider the reasoning behind this move to leave Syria is correct: leaving them to clean up their own mess is much better than hanging around and doing it, not to speak of the cost. Trump would probably consider leaving Iraq soon too after he gets the justification to bomb the Iranians to hell first. Fighting a war and then leaving the spoils to your defeated enemy is a loser’s game. Look at the Gaza strip for a compact example.

  20. Independently of me, Kedar reached all the same conclusions that I did about the reasons why Trump decided to withdraw U.S. soldiers from Syria, and why the decsion was by no means sudden or spur of the moment.

    He agrees with Visser that the decision creates serious securiy problems for Israel, the Kurdish people, and eventually for the United States as well. But he explains exactly why the risk to the United States was greater from keeping the U.S. troops there than withdrawing them.

    He reminds all of us about the incident in which U.S. soldiers accidentally killed 150 Russian mercenaries on their way to seize Syria’s oil fields, and about the very serious risk of a superpower war that could develop if another, similar incident occurs.

    He also points , as I did, that Trump is President of the United States, not Israel, and has to put American interests first. Finally, he explains that Israel must look to itself to protect itself, and can’t rely on any foreign power, even the United States, for protection.

  21. The following article by Mordecai Kedar is by far the best analysis of the Syrian withdrawal to be published so far. It is also a balanced and fair response to the concerns raised by Jochanan Visser.

    The American Exodus from Syria
    Israel would, of course, much prefer that the American forces remain in Syria, but their pullout is far from a tragedy and even provides a window of opportunity.

    United States President Donald Trump decided, without prior warning, to bring home the American military forces deployed in eastern Syria since 2014, originally sent there to fight ISIS.

    According to the media, the decision was taken during a telephone conversation with President Recip Erdogan of Turkey, in which Erdogan asked his American colleague to ensure that US army soldiers are not in the line of fire of Turkish fighters when they attack the Syrian Kurdish region. Trump soothed Erdogan’s ruffled feathers, saying that the American soldeirs were in Syria to fight ISIS, not Turkey, to which Erdogan responded that the Turkish army can take care of ISIS by itself. Trump jumped at the suggestion and decided to bring the soldiers home now that ISIS is weakened, leaving the terror organization to the devoted ministrations of Turkey.

    This event takes us back two years, to the last US presidential election campaign. Trump, who understands the American public extremely well, knows that 99% of US citizens don’t even know where Syria is on the map, or why American soldiers are there. They have no desire to see American soldiers killed and wounded in wars that have no direct influence on US security. That’s the reason that Trump, who is familiar with the mood of the man-in-the-US-street, promised voters that he would get the American soldiers out of Syria. In contrast to most politicians, Trump makes every effort to fulfill his election promises. The word for that is “trustworthiness,” a basic principle of business management, but one that is often ignored by the ordinary politician.

    The problem is that as time stretched on, ISIS was almost completely destroyed and American forces in Syria accepted responsibility for three other vital issues: 1. Guarding the region between the Euphrates and the Syrian-Iraqi border from Iran’s schemes for a takeover and thwarting its plans for an Iranian highway stretching from Teheran to the Mediterranean Sea, both issues crucial to Israel and Saudi Arabia. 2. Guarding Syrian oil fields from Russian takeovers 3. Aiding the autonomouus Kurdish enclave in northeastern Syria by offering advice, supplying weapons and intelligence and protecting the Kurds from the Turkish Army.

    This, then, is the real significance of the American pullout: Iran will take over large swathes of Syrian territory, Russia will gain control of the oil fields in the eastern part of the country, east of the Euphrates, and the Kurds will be left at the mercy of the Turks.

    Iran will take over large swathes of Syrian territory, Russia will gain control of the oil fields in the eastern part of the country, east of the Euphrates, and the Kurds will be left at the mercy of the Turks.
    Trump’s announcement of the American Exodus from Syria came as a shock to Israelis, who anxiously asked themselves who would stop the Iranians once the US troops are gone. The Kurds, by comparison, literally trapped in their small enclave, reacted even more anxiously, because the Turkish Army, as opposed to the IDF, does not limit its operations to the dictates of an Attorney General (if there is one in Turkey, in the first place) and its officers have not yet heard the term “human rights” applied to Kurds. The Kurds see the American pullout as nothing less than a betrayal and a knife in the back, especially since the blood of thousands of Kurdish fighters was spilled in the war against ISIS in 2014-2016 – a fact no one seems to remember anymore, nor does anyone appreciate the central part they played in ISIS’ defeat.

    I suggest to the Kurds to make the best of a bad situation: Sit down with Assad, and try to see to it that several Russians and Turks are present at the meeting. Try to reach the best settlement you can with him, one that includes the recognition of the Kurds’ collective rights to cultural autonomy, recognition of your language as a legal one in your area and the recognition of your right to representation in Syria’s governmental institutions. Insist on obtaining Syrian citizenship (taken away from you in 1962) so that each and every one of you has civil rights in a Syrian state. True, this is not what you hoped for, it is not an independent state, but remember that your Iraqi brothers relinquished their hopes for an independent state forming a small enclave between three hostile states, with no air route to the outside world. You, too, do not want a state subject to the mercies of the Turks, Syrians and Iraqis in order to import medication, for example, fom the outside world.

    Will life at the mercy of Syria be ideal? Absolutely not, and you have learned this the hard way, but the alternative is definitely worse. Politics is the art of the possible, so go for what you can get now and if the future provides you with an opening to the sea, you can always recalculate.

    And to my Israeli brothers, let me say this:

    1. We – Israel and the Jewish people – have faced much worse situations than the US pullout from Syria, and we have survived.

    2. Stop pressing the panic button, and that means both in the media and the general public. Panic does not add anything to the balanced, sage thinking so necessary at this time.

    3. Despite the coming elections, I am sure that those responsible for Israel’s security, from the Prime Minister downwards, are talking to their American colleagues in order the plan the way Israel is to operate so as to protect its own interests and those of the US in Syria. Most surely they are planning how israel is to deal with the encouragement Iran is going to glean from the American withdrawal from Syria. My heart tells me that the US security echelons will be more willing to accede to Israeli requests for arms and the types of weapons the US did not agree to provide for Israel in the past – or grudgingly agreed to provide in limited amounts.

    4. My heart tells me in addition, that the US will be more open to supplying Israel with intelligence info on Iranian incursions into Syrian territory.

    5. This means that the US will give Israel a clearer green light than it has in the past to deal more decisively with Iranian targets.

    No less important:

    6. The US will give Israel political support, mainly in the UN Security Council, when Israel’s acitivities to restrain Iranian expansion in Syria find themselves on the agendas of international bodies.

    If all the six points above come to pass, Israel will not do too badly in the wake of the American pullout. It is important that Israelis remember that America has too many people – in politics, media and the halls of academia – who can be described as “Israel-haters” and who never miss an opportunity to bash Israel, with and mostly without any reason to do so. Bodies of American soldiers brought from Syria – G-d forbid – to America for burial – will grant those anti-Semites the chance to claim that American soldiers are being sacrificed to protect Israel. The fact that this accusation is totally detached from reality does not prevent it, if made, from significantly causing harm to Israel, and the freedom of speech that exists in America does not allow for its suppression. It is in Israel’s interest to prevent situations that can grant these claims any legitimacy, and taking US soldiers out of Syria serves that purpose.

    One other issue must be kept in mind: The presence of both Russian and American troops in Syria can lead to a clash of world powers dangerously close to Israel. In February 2018, ten months ago, close tp 150 armed Russians, members of some militia, were killed. In a battle with the American forces that are about to pull out of Syria, a Russian takeover attempt aimed at a Syrian oil installation was abandoned, and Putin swallowed the bitter pill so as not to complicate his relationship with Trump. Those killed were not regular Russian soldiers, but is it not possible that something similar could happen again?

    The bottom line is that Israel would, of course, much prefer that the American forces remain in Syria, but their pullout is far from a tragedy and even provides an opportunity that Israel can use to its advantage. There is no question that Israeli decision makers will know how to present suitable requests to the US and make the right decisions in the new situation created in our far-from-stable region. However, we have overcome more serious situations, so that there is no real reason for the depressing atmosphere some of the media pundits are trying to create.

    We must remember that Trump is first and foremost President of the United States, not of Israel, and that American interests direct his steps.

    Written for Arutz Sheva, translated from the Hebrew by Rochel Sylvetsky, English site Op-ed and Judaism Editor.

  22. While there are many legitimate criticisms of the way Trump has managed the Syrian withdrawal, Visser overlooks the danger to such a small and spread out American force, surrounded by far more numerous hostile forces sponsored by Russia. As commander in chief of the American forces, Trump had a duty to avoid a possible repetition of the “Custer’s Last Stand” situation. He could perhaps have managed the, probably, with more skill and finesse, but the basic decision to withdraw had to be made, since such a small force surrounded by hostile forces is in the long run untenable.

    s a result, I don’t mind that Trump hurt their feelings a little. And a good thing to remind them that they don’t ownAs for his offending Iraq’s Shi’ite politicians: the United States enabled them to take control of the country from its Sunni Arab minority, who had been handed power by the British in 1920. The Shi’ites rewarded us by allying themselves with out worst enemy, Iran.
    So it doen’t bother me that Trump ruffled their feathers a bit.