Jeffrey spoke days after national security adviser John Bolton announced that the United States would not withdraw “as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders,” for the first time tying the U.S. trajectory in Syria to challenging Iran. The Trump administration has made countering Iran’s powerful network of proxy forces, from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, a primary goal in the Middle East. The Trump administration is eager to see Iran’s departure, in part to aid ally Israel, which has conducted a number of strikes this year on Iranian military targets in Syria. Analysts agree that the continued presence of Iranian forces, Hezbollah and other Shiite militia groups in a predominantly Sunni nation will probably continue to fuel extremism. While U.S. and Iranian forces are arrayed mostly in different areas, they have clashed a handful of times when Iranian-backed fighters have veered close to American positions.

Source: Washington Post September 30, 2018 22:08 UTC