Here's how tensions with Iran might affect the U.S.'s ability to fight ISIS
The United States' recent actions in the Middle East have been centered around Iran, but as tensions rise between Tehran and Washington, what will become of the latter's fight against the Islamic State?
The New York Times' Rukmini Callimachi, one of the world's leading reporters on ISIS, said that the U.S.'s burgeoning conflict with Iran has been hindering the ISIS front for months now, and that's not likely to change after President Trump ordered an airstrike against Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force.
Callimachi spoke to Iraq expert Michael Knights who said that throughout 2019, Iran-backed groups denied American forces airspace and access to operations to go after ISIS, though there have been a few provinces where the U.S. has remained on the offensive.
15. “It’s all been downhill,” @Mikeknightsiraq told me, in terms of America’s access to the ISIS battlespace in recent months due to Iranian pressure on Iraqi officials. One upshot? US special operations forces have been on the offensive in Diyala, Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
Ultimately, though, it looks like — at the moment, at least — the focus on Iran will draw the U.S. away from the ISIS challenge.
16. A likely outcome of the recent strike is that small, out-of-the-way outposts for special operations forces will be deemed too vulnerable and will be eliminated. Fighting ISIS is no longer the priority if the outer wall of the US embassy is being attacked.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
Politico reports that the strike that killed Soleimani could even lead to Iraq kicking U.S. troops out of the country, therefore ending the U.S. mission to train the Iraqi military to fight the terrorist group. Read more at Politico.
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