Resistance groups are pressuring the US to stop the war in Gaza

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator

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

Kirby was referring to the January 28 drone attack on Tower 22, killing three US troops and wounding at least 34 at their living quarters in a secretive outpost on the Jordan-Syria border near Iraq.

Kirby forgets the White House policy on the Middle East promotes chaos and death.

The 350 US Army and Air Force troops there provide logistics support to the nearby US Al-Tanf base, which is an illegal occupation of Syria.

Over 150 attacks by Iranian-based militias on American bases in Iraq and Syria have occurred since October 7, but this attack is the first resulting with American deaths.

Why are these attacks happening?

US President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for the genocide in Gaza since the October 7th attack on Israel has elicited attacks by the resistance groups in the region. Biden refuses to call for a ceasefire, even as the UN, France and Spain call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel’s attack on Gaza has killed over 26,422 Palestinians and injured 65,087, with the majority being women and children. Much of Gaza has been leveled by the Israeli onslaught, and more than 80 percent of the population is homeless.

Biden has taken no action to ensure the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, including drinking water, food and medical supplies, while Israel continues to target hospitals, and kill doctors and ambulance drivers.

The Israeli military escalation in Gaza threatens regional security, including the security of US interests and military assets, but Biden refuses to work to protect Americans in the area, while protecting and defending the Netanyahu government who have called for Gaza to be emptied and annexed into Israel.

Biden blamed the attack on Iran-backed militants operating in Syria and Iraq; however, Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks. Islamic Resistance in Iraq have claimed responsibility to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, that only Biden can deliver.

“Regional resistance factions do not receive orders from Iran, and Iran does not interfere in the decisions of the resistance to support Palestine or defend itself,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.

Why do US youth support Gaza, not Israel, and what is the role of the US media?

Younger Americans equate the racial injustice in the US with the situation of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Freedom and equality are American values and the US youth feels passionately about the right for every person to have human rights, which the Israeli government denies all Palestinians.

Cliff Albright, co-founder of “Black Voters Matter” told CNN’s Poppy Harlow, Black voters in general are disappointed with Biden’s policy in Gaza, but the majority of the younger Black voters are “outright mad about it.”

Recently, Biden began to give a speech, but was interrupted by a protester with a Palestinian flag who shouted, “How many kids have you killed?”

In spite of the US mainstream media being biased against Palestine, and overtly supportive of Israel, almost 50% of young Americans say that Israel’s months-long assault of Gaza is genocide. Experts explain that young people do not get their news spoon-fed to them by TV, but instead get the majority of their news and information from social media and online news outlets which show the war inside Gaza in its most gruesome truth.

The polls show Biden is losing

Recent polls show almost two thirds of the US support a ceasefire in Gaza, and express disgust with the Biden’s position.

The majority of the Democratic Party supporters now support the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel, with 49 percent polling that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocide.

Biden’s support of genocide is a result of decades of pressure by AIPAC, which exerts outrageous pressure on the political system in the US. Biden thinks he must placate AIPAC, which is the Israeli lobby, and in an election year he dares not go against AIPAC, even though it means throwing the American values of freedom and human rights under the bus. However, Biden’s decision to bow down to Israel will likely cost him the election as voters can no longer support Biden. The Israeli attack on Gaza may be the end of Biden, and a gift to Trump.

Tower 22, Al Tanf, Rukban refugee camp and the Maghawir al-Thawra

Tower 22 houses about 350 US Army and Air Force troops in Jordan near the US Al Tanf base in Syria, which is in occupation in eastern Syria on the Iraq border. Al Tanf is on the M2 Baghdad-Damascus Highway, and the US seeks to control the movement on that road.

The Rukban refugee camp for internally displaced Syrians is in Jordan, and near to Tower 22 and Al Tanf. Journalists who have visited the camp describe it as a hell-hole. It lacks basic supplies and management. Mafias and criminals operate in the camp while charging the destitute people camped there money for supplies which are provided free from humanitarian groups.

The 350 US military at Al Tanf have a mercenary militia called Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT) who provide security for the Americans, while having been trained and weaponized by the US Army Special Forces. At first glance, the MaT appear to be Hollywood ‘stand-ins’ for Al Qaeda, and any other terrorist group in the Middle East.

Why does the US say Jordan, and Jordan says Syria?

Biden announced the attack “on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border,” but the Jordanian government spokesman, Muhannad Mubaidin, initially said the attack “did not happen in Jordan.”

Because Tower 22 is almost directly on the Syrian border, with Al Tanf on the Syrian side, and Rukban camp on the Jordanian side, Mubaidin was likely confused as to the exact location of the drone attack.

Jordan’s army is one of the largest recipients of Washington’s foreign military financing, and has a military base and about 4,000 US troops there. During the US-NATO attack on Syria beginning in 2011 by President Obama, Jordan played a significate role of smuggling weapons across the border to Deraa, the first city in Syria to come under attack in March 2011.

Will Biden attack Iran in response?

The militant groups in Iraq have been very active with attacks on US interests in both Syria and Iraq. Biden ordered the targeted assassination of a group leader in downtown Baghdad, and the Iraqi government condemned the killing.

Recently, Iraq’s prime minister, Shia al-Sudani, said that US retaliatory strikes against the Kataib Hezbollah group “blatantly violated Iraq’s sovereignty”. This has resulted in opening talks between the US and Iraq on a time table for the 2,500 US troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Biden has options to attack Syria, Iraq or inside Iran as he vowed revenge for the Tower 22 attack and deaths. If he chooses to attack Iran, this could open up the third war for Biden. He is drowning in Ukraine and Gaza, and if he gets the US into a war with Iran, that could be the beginning of a regional war in the Middle East of monumental proportions. Netanyahu has said that his war on Gaza will reshape the Middle East. He might be proven right.

Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.