Obwohl sich der Krieg gegen den Islamischen Staat in Syrien dem Ende zuneige, hätten die USA keinerlei Absicht aus dem Land abzuziehen, schreibt Defensenews. Der Grund sei, dass es eigentlich ohnehin um die Eindämmung des Iran gehe, was nun auch offen formuliert wurde: „Officially, the only mission for U.S. troops on the ground in the region ― including about 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 2,200 in Syria ― is to defeat and destroy ISIS. But recently the White House has begun to reveal a massive new mission on the horizon for U.S. troops in the Middle East: containing Iran. National security adviser John Bolton on Monday said countering Iran’s influence in Syria and elsewhere is a major goal of the U.S. military mission in the Middle East. ‚We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders, and that includes Iranian proxies and militias,‘ Bolton said, signaling a fundamental shift from the current counter-terrorism operations to a mission focused more on geopolitical maneuvering and proxy warfare.“ (jw)
