A new year with a bang

 

                                           Area of attacks. Source: Voice of America, Google Maps.

The new year is ringing in old problems. Israel attacked Iranian-linked sites Saturday in northeastern Syria, at Al Bukamal near the Iraqi border, south of Deir el-Zour, at a strategic crossing. Jets targeted a convoy of eight trucks serving Iranian-linked militants, destroying at least four trucks. The Israelis also struck three houses at Al Bukamal used by the militants. Israel also bombed sites near Aleppo in northwestern Syria. And ground bombardment from the Golan Heights, which Israel controls, struck an Iranian-linked site in Quneitra province in southern Syria.

In all, about 29 fighters in Syria were reportedly killed and several arms warehouses damaged. Last week, Israel also assassinated the general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards who coordinated militias in Syria and Lebanon. 

Israel rarely comments on its attacks in Syria. But this spate of the last week indicates that Israel believes that Iran is supplying, by routes crossing Syria, an attack on it through Lebanon. 

Is Iran retaliating?  American bases may be in closer reach for Iran’s militias than Israeli ones. On New Year’s Eve, rockets targeted two US bases in Al-Hasakah province in northeast Syria. Several rockets fell near houses at the Al Jabsa oilfield. One drone targeted the Kharab al-Jir airport, according to Bulgarianmilitary.com, which quoted Sputnik.com .

The Pentagon has not confirmed these attacks.  But militias have attacked US posts in Al-Hasakah several times since the Israel-Hamas War began.  This is probably because they are close to supply routes between Iran and Iraq and because they are close to oil and gas fields now controlled by the US or by its Kurdish allies.

The Iranian media charge that the US military transport oil from these fields to a firm in Iraq owned by a family friend of the prime minister of the Kurdistan autonomous region of Iraq, Masrour Barzani. Although Kurdistan is not independent, it has more power to make its own decisions than do most provinces of Iraq. Masrour is cousin to Kurdistan’s President, Nechirvan Barzani. 

I have not seen confirmation of the charge that the Barzani family and friends are siphoning oil from Syria. The terrorist Islamic State of Syria and the Levant, which the Americans and the Kurds are trying to contain, does smuggle Syrian oil, but that’s another matter. However, the Barzanis are widely criticized for corruption and incompetence. A brother of Barzani is secretly tied to real estate in Iraq valued at $1.27 billion, reported The American Prospect.  Indeed, the Iraqi government has wrested away Kurdistan’s control of its own oil and gas.

On the other hand, with its undocumented charge, Iran may be trying to distance the Arab tribes in northeast Syria, who regard local oilfields as their own, from the Americans and their Kurdish allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces, who nominally rule the region. Masrour Barzani criticizes Iran for jeopardizing the autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan.

                  Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Getty Images

 Bulgarianmilitary.com, a site sympathetic to Russia, commented that the two attacks on US posts in northeast Syria “are widely believed to be orchestrated by Shiite armed groups active within Iraq. Despite this, Washington maintains the stance that these acts of aggression have been executed by groups aligned with Iran.”

“Widely believed” in Bulgaria, maybe. Russia and Iran are allies of Syria's dictatorial President Bashar al-Assad, who has fought a civil war for 12 years to stop a movement seeking democracy. Evidence abounds that Iran has trained and financed militia in Syria for years. The Shi’a militias in Iraq that have attacked US posts, notably Kata’ib Hezbollah, have sworn allegiance to Iran. Tehran is nothing if not shrewd. – Leon Taylor, Baltimore tayloralmaty@gmail.com

 

Notes

For useful comments, I thank but do not implicate Annabel Benson.

 

References

Kamat Ayash, Suleiman Al-Khaliidi, Ahmed Rasheed, and Jan Harvey.  Air strikes hit Iran-backed militia facilities, truck convoy in Syria | Reuters  December 30, 2023.

Zack Kopplin. Cowboy Drugstore - The American Prospect . December 7, 2021.

National Counterterrorism Center. Kata’ib Hizballah. National Counterterrorism Center | FTOs (dni.gov)  September 2022.

Boyko Nikolov. Missiles and a drone attacked two US bases in Syria - source  (bulgarianmilitary.com)  January 1, 2024.

Michael Rubin. Barzani’s Days as Kurdish Leader Are Numbered | American Enterprise Institute - AEI  August 18, 2023.

U.S. Department of Defense. Operation Inherent Resolve, Lead Inspector General Quarterly Report to Congress, October 1, 2021-December 31, 2021 (defense.gov)

Voice of America. https://www.voanews.com/a/report-23-pro-iran-fighters-killed-in-east-syria-strikes/7419430.html  January 1, 2024.