"Will the US confront Iran's forces in Syria?" Topic

"US officials have stated that they want to challenge Iranian influence in Syria, but how likely is a confrontation?

Tensions between Iran and the United States over Syria are at the highest they have been since the country's civil war started in 2011.

While Tehran and Washington have repeatedly voiced indignation about the other's presence in Syria, they have not reached the point of a military confrontation so far.

While the US has targeted fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad who have threatened its Kurdish allies and airbases, it has not directly attacked Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officers, who command both pro-Assad militias and are embedded with Syrian military units…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Why?

We have no real business left there … unless we finally take a stand and keep Turkey from eradicating Kurds.

And Israel is armed to the teeth and more than willing to defend itself from any attack from Iranian forces.

Dan

Until a great deal of our friends there who are not our friends, finally let it slip noisily that they are not our friends.

The geopolitical rationale is there though. Iran/Shia influence has been rising alarmingly in the region much to the chagrin of our Sunni "allies" such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and the Gulf States.

Even if we say SA and Turkey are not trustworthy allies and so "who cares?" the current situation is at least partly our fault because we eliminated the single most effective check to Iranian influence until around 2003 or so from the regional balance of power equation, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, in Gulf War II.

Not saying I advocate confronting Iran and her proxies in Syria, since doing so carries the risk of widening a sectarian conflict, especially if the Russians decide to double down and back their clients.

I'm sure it wouldn't happen with our current POTUS, whose foreign policy isn't ideologically driven, but had the other candidate won the election in 2016 as most people expected, going to war with Iran in Syria and making a play for regime change to oust Assad would be quite possible, maybe even likely I'd wager.

The more we intervene in the Middle-East, the more we screw it up. At least with the first Gulf War in 1991 our reasons were somewhat rational; something to do with oil even though we said otherwise. We should be helping the Russians keep Assad in power. Yea, bad guy dictator, but still better than the alternative which we helped create.