After the illegal assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad, the people of Iraq and Iran are demanding a US departure from the Middle East. But if this desire is indeed fulfilled, what repercussions will a lack of US presence in the Middle East mean for Israel and will this mean the possible beginning of the end for the Zionist Entity occupying Palestine?
The first step towards the larger mission of expelling all US military personnel from the region in its entirety, is forcing the United States to leave Iraq. If forced from Iraq, the US will no longer have the ability to remain inside of Syria either, as they could not re-supply their personnel sufficiently. Meaning that for US President Donald Trump, his dream of taking all Middle East oil would be slipping slowly away.
Currently, the US officially has around 5 thousand troops stationed inside of Iraq, spread out across multiple military facilities and bases all across the country. In Syria it also has hundreds - possibly over a thousand - stationed around the al-Omar oil fields in Deir Ezzor (Eastern Syria). In both Syria and Iraq, the US presence is an occupation of foreign sovereign territory and is a violation of international law, as the US has no mandate to be in either of these countries.
Unfortunately for the Americans, Iraq has begun to become a more independent country, for the first time since the US invasion of the nation in 2003. This is in large part thanks to the Hash al-Shaabi (PMU/PMF), which officially forms part of Iraq’s armed forces. This is also due to the Iraqi decision to reject US backed candidates who ran for Prime Minister and instead chose to elect Adel Abdul Mehdi. The significance of this Iraqi shift away from the dictate of the United States is that following a US withdrawal from Iraq, the country’s policies will likely be steered away from Western interests. Also the Israelis, whom have free reign to bomb targets in Iraq so long as the US control the countries airspace, would no longer have the safe option of doing so.
A large factor in US Middle-East policy, since the June 1967 war, has been to protect Israel and its interests in the region. With the Israelis and the pro-Israel Lobby groups, teaming up with hard-line neoconservatives in the US, playing a large role in pushing the US into multiple regime change wars and proxy wars in the region.
The US acts as a protector of Israel in the Middle East and has helped normalize relations between Israel and Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, as well as maintain the relationship with other collaborator Arab States. For example, if it was not for the US’s 2 billion per year in foreign aid, as a blackmail chip, held against the Egyptian State they would likely still have opposing interests. Saudi Arabia is also controlled by the United States, to a large extent, along economic lines.
Unfortunately for Israel however, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq do not prostitute themselves to the West in the way that the States to the south of them do. This is why the US and Israel have done all that they possibly could have done in order to destroy these States, or at least the governments and/or resistance movements operating inside of them.
The reason Israel is so easily able to remain on the Syrian Golan, for instance, along with the Lebanese Shaba farms, is because of the power the US wields in the region and the consequences both Lebanon and Syria could face if they chose to take the initiative to themselves fight wars to regain their stolen territory. Similarly, Israel is attempting to steal resources located in Lebanese waters, which it could only claim as its own with the backing of the US.
The exact same thing is true of the ongoing occupation, annexation of Palestine’s land and mass incremental genocide/ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. If it was not for the US acting as the regions bully, the suffering of the Palestinians would have ended long ago.
If the US is banished from the Middle East, it would not be long before Israel would be forced to stand down and start behaving in a more legal manner. Already, due to the Iraqi armed forces operation against the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) forces, Israel has lost its cheap supply of oil, originating from Kirkuk, which at one point met 77% of its needed demands. This was but simply a taste of what Iraqi forces, spear headed by the PMU, are capable of when they act in their own sovereign interests.
Whether the US leaves under diplomatic pressure, in Iraq, or it is expelled by force, the Israelis will have suffered a decisive defeat in the region. Their projection of power, achieved through the US’s military, would be coming to an end.
Once forced out of Iraq, and Syria as a consequence of that, the US will lose a big part of its foothold in the region, meaning Israel will be feeling the heat. Ultimately, the departure of the US from Iraq and Syria means the failure of their attempt to destroy the regional axis of resistance, operated between Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
The Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said just two weeks ago that when the US are forced from the Middle East, the Israelis will withdraw from the lands they occupy, very likely without a bullet even needing to be fired. This could very likely be a reality if the Israelis stand alone in the region.
Without the backing of the United States, Israel cannot exist the way it currently does. Without the backing of the US, the Israelis could wake up living in the State of Palestine. So now as it stands, the road the Jerusalem runs through Iraq.
Source: Press TV
By: Robert Inlakesh
