Iran Focus
London, 4 Jun – The US has increased its military presence on the top of Mount Sinjar, on the border between Syria and Iraq, in order to better fight back against Iran backed militias, according to the Sinjar government.
The Deputy Mayor of Sinjar, Halal Khalo, said: “15 military vehicles of US troops arrived on top of Mount Singhal and stationed themselves near Mira peak on the mountain.”
Shortly afterwards, the Governor of Sinjar confirmed that the US was establishing a military base on the mountain, which is an area of strategic importance on the Syrian border, and said that this brought “hope for stability” to the thousands of displaced Kurdish Ezidis, a religious minority forced to flee in the war who have not been allowed to return home.
He said that the US would be using this base to fight off Iran-backed Shia militias and prevent them from “controlling the mountain or blocking the area so it becomes an Iranian corridor to Syria, which could eventually lead to a regional war”.
However, an Iraqi General has disputed this and called the sources unreliable. He said that Iraqi military forces are on Mount Sinjar to fight ISIS.
Najim al-Jubour said: “US advisers are in Mosul, Qayyarah, and other parts of the Nineveh Province. But they are deployed there on an everyday basis. They had told us we should take precautionary measures at the border.”
He added: “The involvement of the US military in supporting Iraqi forces in securing the border does not go beyond its scope, which is to provide military advice.”
Fighting ISIS
The US and its allies have been ISIS in Syria since September 2014, but they do not have a UN mandate as Russia blocked the move using its veto power 11 times, supposedly to protect its ally Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
It’s a strange move, considering that Assad always claims to be fighting terrorists. Why wouldn’t he want ISIS removed from his country? Iran does this too, by creating or supporting Shia armed groups like the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF/PMU), but they are actually the biggest supporter of terrorism in the world.
The border is a battleground between US-allied forces and ISIS, but it is also important that the allies fight other terrorist groups that are being used by Iran to keep a dictator in power.
Despite this, US military presence is still a contentious issue in Iraq and the Iraqi parliament demanded a clear timeline for the withdrawal of US forces in March.
Containing Iran
Of course, the issue of containing Iran in the Middle East is not unlike the fight against ISIS. Both entities are incredibly dangerous for the Middle East and the world at large.
Iran’s proxies in Syria have prolonged the civil war causing hundreds of thousands of more deaths/injuries, while Iran’s proxies in Iraq are undermining democracy and could well turn the country into a vassal state. The Iranian Resistance and the Iranian people have been saying loudly for a long time that Iran and its proxies need to be removed from the Middle East, so at least they are being listened to now.
