February 3 2024 Biden’s Presidential Campaign Becomes a War of Imperial Conquest Against the Dominion of Iran

     In reply to the victorious Red Sea campaign of allies like myself of Palestine, a counter blockade of Israel’s war crime of blockading humanitarian aid to Gaza, Biden the Baby Killer has launched a broad multistate regional conflict of imperial conquest against the Dominion of Iran, triggered by the deaths of American soldiers at the hands of Iranian allies or proxy forces.

     This is horrible, the murders of our guardians at Tower 22and a crime for which its perpetrators must be held responsible and brought a Reckoning; but so also is the Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. When Netanyahu and Biden are removed from power as war criminals, and the rain of death our taxes pay for in Gaza silenced, there will be time to pursue justice for the victims of this conflict; all the victims, regardless of what nation claims to act in their name as legitimation of war and the centralization of power.

    Why do we sink or seize any ship carrying arms to Israel?   

    We contest the freedom of the high seas for any nation which funds and arms crimes against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, or genocide.

    America’s abandonment of the principle of our universal human rights under the command of President Biden is a historic betrayal of all that we love and hold dear as truths which are self-evident, and this is Biden’s re-election campaign of cruelty, amorality, and imperial terror.

    This wave of strikes against Iran’s Axis of Resistance and its nonstate forces is merely Biden’s attempt, confronted with hostile crowds of his fellow Democrats at re-election campaign rallies, to divert us from the fact that in sponsoring Israel’s war crimes he has made us all complicit in genocide and crimes against humanity.

     And this we must resist.  

     As written by Léonie Chao-Fong in The Guardian, in an article entitled What we know about US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria: US forces attack at least 85 targets across Iraq and Syria; US has no plan to bomb Iran, which would be a huge escalation, officials say; “The US has launched an air assault on several sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran-backed militias, in an opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US service members in Jordan last weekend.

     US Central Command said the strikes were targeted at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. It said US military forces struck more than 85 targets including “command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities” belonging to militia groups and their IRGC sponsors.

     Joe Biden warned in a statement released after the attacks began that “if you harm an American, we will respond”. The statement said: “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: if you harm an American, we will respond.”

     The US has said it has so far “hit exactly what we meant to hit”. Lt Gen Douglas Sims, director for operations on the joint staff, said the timing of the strikes was determined by the weather, with the best weather appearing on Friday. “The initial indications are that we hit exactly what we meant to hit with a number of secondary explosions associated with the ammunition and logistics locations,” he said.

     At least 18 Iran-backed fighters have been killed in strikes in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said. At least 26 important sites housing pro-Iran groups including weapons depots have been destroyed in raids striking a large swath of eastern Syria, stretching more than 62 miles (100km) from the city of Deir ez-Zor to Albu Kamal, near the Iraq border, the monitoring group told AFP.

     An Iraqi military spokesperson has said US airstrikes were launched at Iraqi border areas, warning that the attacks could ignite instability in the region. Yahya Rasool said in a statement reported by Reuters: “These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences.”

     US officials told CNN that the US had no plan to bomb Iran, which would represent a significant escalation. Administration officials have repeatedly stressed that Washington does not intend to go to war with Iran, despite the accusation that it had armed the groups behind the Tower 22 attack. Iran has also previously warned the US not to launch any direct strike on Iranian territory, saying if the US acts in this way its response will be swift and dramatic.

     The US had warned it would carry out a series of reprisal strikes launched over more than one day. The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Friday: “This is the start of our response. The president has directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on US and coalition forces. These will unfold at times and places of our choosing.”

     As written by Dan Sabbagh in The Guardian, in an article entitled Jordan drone strike: who are Islamic Resistance in Iraq and what is Tower 22?

The group that claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on a US military base in Jordan is a loose coalition of Iranian-backed militias; “Three US service personnel were killed and 34 wounded on Sunday after a drone hit a residential quarters at a military outpost in Jordan known as Tower 22, which lies on the border between Iraq and Syria.

     It is the first time US soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, after an estimated 150 attacks by Iranian-based militias on American bases in Iraq and Syria since 7 October.

     A military response is expected from the US. Joe Biden, the US president, blamed Iran-backed militants for the attack and said on Sunday: “We will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing.”

     Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks, but Islamic Resistance in Iraq have claimed responsibility as part of efforts, galvanised by the Israel-Hamas war, to try to drive US troops out of Iraq and Syria.

     Who are Islamic Resistance in Iraq?

     Responsibility for the attack on the US base was claimed by Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a term used to describe a loose coalition of Iranian-backed militias that oppose US support for Israel in the war in Gaza.

     Membership of the group is deliberately vague, allowing each armed group a level of plausible deniability, according to the Atlantic Council. There is evidence suggesting that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards play a coordinating role, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said.

     On Sunday, Islamic Resistance in Iraq said they targeted US personnel with drones at three locations in Syria, including two bases near where Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet, but it was not immediately clear whether the group was referring specifically to the attack that killed the US troops.

     What is Tower 22?

     Tower 22 occupies a strategically important location in Jordan, at the most north-eastern point where the country’s borders meet Syria and Iraq, serving as a logistics hub for US military units in Syria.

     About 350 troops are based at a facility that may have been less well defended than bases in Iraq and Syria because it was thought to be in a safe country.

     Tower 22 is near al-Tanf garrison, which houses a small number of US troops across the border in Syria. Tanf had been key in the fight against Islamic State (IS) and has assumed a role as part of a US strategy to contain Iran’s military buildup in eastern Syria, while also being close to western Iraq.

     There are an estimated 4,000 US troops in Jordan. The kingdom is one of the few regional allies that hold extensive exercises with US troops throughout the year.

     What are the implications of the attack?

     It was always likely that US personnel would eventually be killed by one of the repeated attacks from Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria – or from Yemen’s Houthis firing at warships in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

     A drone carrying explosives landed in the upper floors of a US barracks in Iraq in October, but failed to explode, one of more than 150 such attacks. At Tower 22, casualties were caused because the drone struck living quarters, raising questions as to how it was able to evade the base’s air defences.

     Much will depend on the level of US military response, and whether it will be deemed to act as a deterrent. But it is likely that attacks on US bases will continue, given that drones and missiles are easy to make, and that the attack on Tower 22 was effective in causing casualties at a relatively low cost.

     The key question is whether the US will strike directly at Iranian targets or possibly inside Iran itself, or focus on the militias in Iraq and Syria. Even the latter option is not without complications; a week ago, Iraq’s prime minister, Shia al-Sudani, complained via a spokesperson that US retaliatory strikes against the Kataib Hezbollah group “blatantly violated Iraq’s sovereignty”.

     There are about 2,500 US troops in Iraq – although there has been speculation that the Iraqi government will ask them to leave – and a further 900 in Syria, largely focused on fighting the remnants of Islamic State.

     It is also unclear whether Iran would escalate if attacked, or if the US attack was sufficiently intense. An option could be to threaten oil tankers and other shipping in the strait of Hormuz, replicating the tactics adopted by the Houthis.

     But the US has said it does not want escalation. “We are not looking for a war with Iran,” said John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson. “What we want is a stable, secure, prosperous Middle East, and we want these attacks to stop.”

What we know about US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/02/us-airstrikes-iraq-syria-what-we-know?CMP=share_btn_link

Jordan drone strike: who are Islamic Resistance in Iraq and what is Tower 22?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/29/jordan-drone-strike-who-are-islamic-resistance-in-iraq-and-what-is-tower-22

Biden beware: US must fully consider response to soldiers’ deaths – or risk Iran escalation

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2024/jan/29/biden-beware-us-must-fully-consider-response-to-soldiers-deaths-or-risk-iran-escalation

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