Christian Shomali / Staff Reporter
Joe Biden has cancelled an airstrike to Syria, against another target after a woman and a child were found in the area. Biden was mainly targeting the borders of Iraqi, being used by the Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon has stated that the strikes was a punishment for the rocket attack in Iraq earlier in March 2021, that has killed one civilian contractor, and injured a U.S. service member along with other troops in the U.S service.
This airstrike seems to be the first military action that Biden has commanded, which in the first few weeks has indicated its decision to put more focus and effort on the challenges that was posed by China, even as the Middle East’s intimidation. Biden’s final decision to bomb Syria didn’t appear to signal any sort of intention to widen the U.S. military involvement in or near the region, but rather demonstrating a will to defend the U.S. troops in Iraq.
A Californian Democrat, Rep. Ro Khanna, stated to CNN that Biden’s airstrikes has marked the fifth consecutive time a U.S. president has ordered these strikes against the targets in the Middle East.
“There is absolutely no justification for a president to authorize a military strike that is not in self-defense against an imminent threat without congressional authorization. We need to extricate from the Middle East, not escalate,” Khanna stated, noting that it was an action that was taken under the “old” Authorization for Use of Military Force law.
A National Security member at The Institute for the Study of War, Jennifer Cafarella, and a policy research organization in Washington, argued that the airstrikes demonstrated “that the #Biden administration is not wholly overlooking #Iran’s malign & escalatory regional operations” as it finds a way to resume nuclear diplomacy with Iran.
“Much still remains to be seen, but this was a good step,” Cafarella added.
‘According to research by a defense and security expert, with the ‘Costs if War’ project at Brown University’s Watson Institute, Stephanie Savell, USA TODAY reported that based on Savell’s research, from 2018 to 2020 the U.S. military was active in the counterterrorism operations in 85 other countries, either face-to face, stand ins, exercises, drone strikes or secret U.S. operations.’ Biden’s Syria airstrikes test US role as world’s police, get bipartisan support – and criticism Written by Kim Hjelmgard.
‘“I’m confident in the target that we went after, we know what we hit,” Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters who flew with him from California to Washington. Shortly speaking after the airstrikes, he also stated, “We’re confident that that target was being used by the same Shia militants that conducted the strikes,” referencing to the Feb. 15 rocket attack in the northern side of Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition personnel.’ U.S. launches airstrikes in Syria, targeting facilities used by Iran-backed militia. Written by Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns.
Max Abrahms, a professor of political science, and a public policy at Northeastern University, stated that Biden’s administration is putting a lot of effort to keep the instincts of the veteran nationality security balanced, and diplomats such as the United States Secretary of States, Antony Birkin, who have long gravitated towards the military intervention and regime change, from Syria to Venezuela.
A Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, has stated to reporters that he was “confident in the target we went after. We know what we hit.”
A professor at Notre Dame Law School, Mary Ellen O’Connell, condemned Biden’s decision as a violation of the worldwide law. “The United Nations Charter makes absolutely clear that the use of military force on the territory of a foreign sovereign state is lawful only in response to an armed attack on the defending state for which the target state is responsible, none of those elements is met in the Syria strike.” she said.
The U.S. military have been greatly reduced in Iraq to 2,500 people and does not partake in combat missions with Iraqi forces in the continuing operations against the Islamic State.
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U.S launches airstrikes in Syria, targeting facilities used by Iran-backed militia
Biden’s Syria airstrikes test US role as world’s police, get bipartisan support – and criticism