U.S. Troops at Risk in Iraq and Syria

Last week, two U.S. F-15 fighter jets bombed a facility in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Shiite militia proxies it supports. The strike came in response to multiple drone and rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias against U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria. “The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in an accompanying press release, “and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.”

But what exactly are those interests? Are they critical to U.S. national security? And are the goals the U.S. is seeking to achieve in Iraq and Syria so important that it needs to sustain a risky troop presence there?

Last week, two U.S. F-15 fighter jets bombed a facility in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Shiite militia proxies it supports. The strike came in response to multiple drone and rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias against U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria. “The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in an accompanying press release, “and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.”

But what exactly are those interests? Are they critical to U.S. national security? And are the goals the U.S. is seeking to achieve in Iraq and Syria so important that it needs to sustain a risky troop presence there?