By BERNARD HORSTMANN*
The attack on a US base and the act of revenge against the entire UN system by the West further escalate the conflict in the Middle East
Yesterday, 3 US soldiers were killed and 34 injured in an attack that allegedly hit a location known as Tower 22. This location is part of the Al Tanf area, where US troops illegally occupy parts of Syria to control traffic on the main road between Iraq and Syria.
The reports so far do not answer many of the questions that arise.
Tower 22 is on the Jordanian side of the border, but Jordan insists that no attack took place on its territory.
Another anomaly is the high rate of injuries in the alleged drone attack. Drones are used en masse in the Ukraine war, but the casualties they cause are generally less than a handful per drone.
The highly automated short- and medium-range air defenses (C-RAMs, the equivalent of Phalanx naval cannons) at the base must be capable of shooting down any drone. Why didn't they work?
The US has also used the Al Tanf base and Rukban camp to house and train ISIS splinter groups so they can attack perceived US enemies. Were any of these people around?
The United States says an Iraqi resistance group, allegedly backed by Iran, is responsible for the attack. There are several such groups allied with Iran in Syria and Iraq. Which one of them did this? Does the United States know this? Iran denies any involvement in the attack.
The attack is certainly a climb in relation to the previous ones. President Biden said that will respond to that .
The question then is knowing where to respond (Syria, Iraq, Iran) and to what degree. Most likely the US will intensify its previous bombing against this or that Iraqi resistance group. If the US attacks any institution or position related to the State, the situation will worsen even more.
The resistance camp would then attempt to damage more US assets. Since the US assassination of General Quassam Soleimani, its overall objective has been to withdraw the US from the Middle East.
The immediate US response to the attack was the activation of long-range tankers:
OSINTdefender @sentdefender – 0:21 UTC January 29, 2024
At least 6 U.S. Air Force KC-135 aerial refueling tankers, most from March Air Force Base in Southern California, are flying northeast across the United States and preparing to transit the Atlantic toward the United States. United Kingdom and Europe. I wonder what kind of aircraft they are refueling?
Aerial refueling tankers are used to keep fighter jets in the air for several hours. The reasons for keeping jets in the air may not necessarily be to attack someone, but to prevent them from being destroyed by an attack on the airstrips themselves.
The US has several bases in the Middle East that house many expensive jets.
If the US suspects these bases will be attacked, it will take a lot of air tankers to save the jets currently parked there.
We could conclude from this that the US will attack a target so relevant that it will have to prepare for a full response attack on its own bases in the Middle East.
There are several other possibilities, but this seems the most likely conclusion.
Now let's take a step back to see the broader picture.
The current escalation in the Middle East is due to the Zionist attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza, the West Bank and southern Lebanon. Active US support for this objective has led to more American wars in Yemen, Iraq and now Syria. Although the US stated that it did not want an all-out war in the Middle East, it did its best to promote it.
The dystopian decision of the USA and its European vassals to deny all support to UNRWA in response to the decision of the International Court of Justice against Israel's genocide of the Palestinians was a new escalation. That a dozen or less of UNRWA's 30 workers were probably involved in the events of 7 October was known for weeks . Implementing this so soon after the ICJ decision has taken place is a clear act of revenge against the entire UN system.
This is the rules-based order, where the US creates and discards all rules at will, fighting against long-established international and humanitarian law.
Sam Husseini @samhusseini – 18:58 UTC January 27, 2024
Francis Boyle states that with States (including the US and UK governments) cutting funding to UNRWA, “it is no longer the case that these States aided and abetted the Israeli Genocide against the Palestinians, in violation of Article 3(e) of the Genocide Convention, criminalizing 'complicity' in genocide. These States are now also in direct violation of article 2(c) of the Genocide Convention: 'By deliberately inflicting upon the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part…'”
The ICJ is the highest independent court that humanity has. The USA and its representatives decided to fight against the law in force around the world.
It is the rule-based order against anyone who does not follow it. This is the unilateral past fighting the rising multilateral future. A dangerous time.
How to quote Arnaud Bertrand:
“The old world is dying and the new world is struggling to be born: now is the time of the monsters.”
Antonio Gramsci
*Bernhard Horstmann is editor of the independent North American media Moon of Alabama.
Translated by Ricardo Kobayaski.
Originally published on the website Moon Of Alabama.
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