Alwaght- A US military base in southeastern Syria was attacked by a drone on Wednesday evening, according to media reports. The explosion at the base caused significant casualties, further reports said, though the US Central Command (CENCOM) said it had no information. No group has so far claimed direct responsibility for the attacks, but the Syrian resistance, who oppose the American occupation, has certainly been behind the attack.
The drone strike on Al-Tanf base comes as US bases in the Al-Omar oilfield and the Koniko gas field in Deir ez-Zor province of Syria have been targeted by rockets several times in recent months. It is noteworthy that this is the first drone strike on a US military base in Syria, and this adds to the importance of this operation.
The attack, analysts say, is setting new rules in the way the Axis of Resistance, a coalition of regional countries seeking American expulsion from the region, will deal with the US in Syria and elsewhere in West Asia region. Here are the new rules:
Attacks on the US bases now a rule not an exception
The new wave of attacks by the resistance forces on the terrorists and the American occupiers, which covers a wide range of different West Asian countries, including Iraq and Syria, provides an important role in the logic of political and military equations: "Once an exception, now the attacks on the US bases is a rule." This issue seems important when considering the fact that in recent decades, attacks on the US troops in West Asia, North Africa, or any other region have been considered an exception and almost impossible— a red line for all state and non-state actors that triggered harsh response from Washington if violated. But now the Resistance camp’s forces, as revisionist forces have shattered all traditional American security, power, and military might rules. This at the end of the road crushed an image of the US invincibility and heroism created for the American forces by propaganda machine like the Hollywood movies. The result is that the American military threat is no longer viable and game changing across the world.
Shifting the regional balance of threat
Another important rule that can be raised after the anti-American drone strike is emergence of a balance of threat between the US forces and the Resistance camp. The balance of threat is emerging with development of capability to reciprocally respond to the American threats and attacks. The recent attack proved that the Resistance forces can launch retaliatory attacks in the shortest possible time.
From another dimension, the attack on Al-Tanf base in parallel with the attacks of the Iraqi resistance on the American forces shows that the initiative and the maneuvering power to tip the scales are out of Washington's hands and now it is the Resistance forces that can attack the CENTCOM, designated a terrorist organization by the Axis of Resistance. This will increase deterrence in the future and will undoubtedly severely tie the White House strategists' hand in implementing military plans against the opposite side in Syria and Iraq as they clearly realize that it is not just the US that can unilaterally carry out attacks without expecting responses.
Pragmatism, an agenda of Resistance forces
The third important rule is the Resistance’s transition from slogans to actions, or, better to say, pragmatism. Just contrary to the Americans that mainly resort to media and propaganda to threaten the opposite side, the Resistance forces in Iraq and Syria have shown that they, unaffected by adversary Western, and some Arab, media propaganda, are not afraid to take concrete steps to defend their interests and realize their demands. In other words, they put pragmatism high on their agenda and spare no actions that help undermine their enemy and lead to their quick withdrawal of the American occupying forces from the region. This push is assisted by experience of the past years that demonstrated the American forces are doomed to fail and there is no ultimate way for them but exit from the region.
