Strategic Aspects of US Airstrike on Pro-Syrian Forces near Iraqi Border

The incident received massive media focus, with some analysts saying that the air raid on the pro-Assad forces in Al-Tanf border area was of strategic nature.
 
On September 30, 2015, Russia directly stepped in the Syrian conflict to help Damascus fight foreign-backed terrorist groups, an entry that ushered in clear defeats of the terrorists and decline of their backers' plans for the war-hit Arab state. The losses were apparent in cities such as Aleppo in north, Palmyra in west, and the Eastern Ghouta in south of the country.
 
Following their heavy losses elsewhere, the terrorists, backed by various foreign sides, launched a retaliatory assault in Hama in central Syria to take further areas there. But they faced a tough response from the government forces and sustained big casualties that forced them back to the north of the city. The terrorists' conclusion after the defeat was that if they act against the government forces directly, they will receive further defeats and thus will see the battlefield equations changing against their interests.
 
They, thus, decided that they have to resort to implementation of the already-designed US plan. The plan seeks cutting the strategic border area in smaller pieces if the militants fail to repel the Iraq and Syrian forces' advances. The final goal is to prevent Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Lebanon from linking to each other in a vast geographical area.
 
If such a link is materialized in the region, the four countries can focus on obliteration of terrorism, something stripping the West, Arab states, and the Israeli regime of their play cards on the ground. This is not the only outcome. The West is afraid that such a connection and triumph of the Iran-led camp will pose challenges to the allied regimes.
 
So deployment of troops to the Iraq-Syria as well as Syria-Jordan border areas and expansion of US presence in northern Iraq and in Syria, particularly in Al-Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor, and Raqqa provinces, under the cover of supporting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are coming as new developments. In fact, the US is struggling to take the initiative through taking under control some areas in a bid to manipulate the course of events in Syria.
 
Knowing it well that the US plan is not yet completely put into action, the pro-Damascus Resistance forces have begun taking preventive measures. The US reacted to their efforts to foil the plan and therefore launched the aerial raid near Al-Tanf border crossing.
 
The progress of anti-terrorist forces towards the Syrian and Iraqi borders means a spell breaker in the eyes of Washington. Actually, if the Syrian forces head to the borders with Iraq or if the Iraq forces do the same job, connection of Iraq and Syria will spoil the American strategic plan to strengthen its bases on the two countries' borders. Therefore, the Thursday night airstrike can be considered as a warning signal by the Americans.
 
The limited nature of the attack can also suggest that the measure was a demand by the US from the Resistance camp to allow Washington tighten its control over the border points without any escalation. Perhaps this is why the top US military leaders following the attack asserted that Washington does not want expansion of conflict to the border areas of Al-Zaza and Al-Tanf. Americans took lessons from northern Hama confrontations. Whenever the US-backed militants encounter the Syrian forces and their allies, the result is a heavy loss of the pro-American camp. Any further losses will immerse the US in an unavoidable quagmire where there is no guarantee of safe exit.
 
The analysts maintain that Al-Tanf incident made it clear that the pro-Syrian forces have moved in the right direction towards the right target to react to the US-designed plan for the Syria-Iraq border areas. The Syrian and Iraqi forces look quite determined to take back the geopolitically-important border areas. They very likely will continue moves to foil the US schemes for the shared borders and for the whole region.
 
The Resistance camp is now fully assured that if the US fails to firm up its foothold on the borders, it along with its Western allies will not be able to have its plans yielding results.