White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday that President Biden is committed to staying in Syria following a series of attacks on US bases and US airstrikes in the country.
“Here’s what’s not going to change … the mission and ISIS is not going to change. We have under 1,000 troops in Syria that are going after that network, which is, while greatly diminished, still viable and still critical. So we’re going to stay at that task,” Kirby said on CBS News’s Face the Nation.
When asked if President Biden was committed to keeping US troops in Syria, Kirby replied, “That’s right. Absolutely.”
While Kirby says the US mission in Syria is about fighting ISIS, the presence is part of the US effort against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government opposes the occupation of the eastern portion of Syria, which allows the US to control most of Syria’s oil resources. On top of the occupation, the US maintains crippling economic sanctions on Syria.
The US occupation always risks sparking a wider war, as demonstrated by the recent airstrikes. The escalation started on Thursday when a US base in eastern Syria came under a drone attack that killed a US contractor and wounded five US troops.
The Pentagon claimed the drone was of “Iranian origin” but offered no evidence to back up the assertion. President Biden responded by ordering airstrikes that hit targets in Syria early Friday against facilities the Pentagon said were “used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” likely referring to the Shia militias that operate in Syria.
According to the pro-opposition UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the US airstrikes killed 19 fighters, including three Syrian troops, 11 Syrian fighters in pro-government militias, and five non-Syrian fighters who were aligned with the government.
The SOHR numbers aren’t confirmed, and both Iran and Syria issued statements accusing the US of lying about who they targeted. Tehran claimed the strikes hit civilian targets.
The US airstrikes provoked more attacks on multiple US bases in Syria on Friday night that wounded at least one US soldier.
Yes, Biden should be committed.
“We have under 1,000 troops in Syria…”
Not enough to control the huge area they occupy and an excellent reason leave and let the SAA take control to deal with what is left of ISIS. The troops removed can be used to secure another border, our SW borders that Biden deliberately blew up.
All of them are illegally in Syria and of course Biden wants to continue every violent incursion he has already made all over the known world. NEVER allow any possible peace to break out. China has shown it has the confidence of all the regional countries involved in the Syrian 12 years of conflict, so NOW make sure that there is no success in the recent détente. USA USA!!!!! Ruler of the globe!!
The key word – illegally. It matters not to the current and subsequent administrations. Trump positioned troops from Afghanistan/Iraq to Syria, then boosted that we were going to get their oil.
Not for long,thank God.Not even God cam stop the US from.blowing up the world.
Any idea how many private guns for hire are in Syria?
I have no information on this.
For a moment I read the article title as a Biden committed to keep troops OUT of Syria. Oh wait, that was me having a Biden moment.
Doubt the dotard (was Trump’s infamous title, but accurately describes Biden as well..) can even find Syria on a world map…
Remember Genie oil?
Syria’s deposits of crude are said to dwarf that of the Saudi’s – go figure – they won’t leave unless they’re kicked out with their tail between their leg’s
So here are the details, pretty old but you’ll soon understand that it’s all about pillaging Syria’s resources – another thing was that before all this went down Syria Iraq and Iran attempted their own gas and oil pipeline to the EU, pretty soon Deash appeared however that’s another story.
From 2015 – Genies and Genocide: Syria, Israel, Russia and Much Oil [New Eastern Outlook]
Ah ha! The plot thickens. Syria – oil, Golan Heights – oil, Yemen – oil (yes, Yemen has oil), Venezuela – oil, Africa – lithium and other resources that are our “interests”. The plot is thickened………………..
Much oil, much more than the Saudi’s!
Let’s take Venezuela for example, at one stage they were perfectly willing to sell their crude however the US demands that they must first privatize state owned assets – only to be snapped up with credit created out of thin air.
I assume that the US is in Syria to shut down Russia’s seaport at Tartus, and the interest in Ukraine is to shut down their seaport at Sevastopol.
I also assume that Syria’s water is of considerably more interest to Israel than their oil.
Everything that’s happened since the lie based response to 9-11 relates to PNAC which appears to play straight into the Oded Yinon Plan which is where the US is not only pilfering territories but these territories are intended to be carved up and turned into future vassal states.
Back in 2011 Syria Iraq and Iran had plans for developing their own pipelines into Europe – It wasn’t to be.
For the US dog’s of war and it’s cadre of submissive poodles it’s all about full spectrum dominance which requires some serious long term planning.
Water is crucial to support life – it saddens me that a people who claim to have suffered so much during the 2nd ww can be so cruel and sadistic to the people whom’s land they’ve illegally occupied and even denied a clean source of water.
Our politicians are made from rubber, spineless cowards who deserves to be ridiculed- however so should the people that voted for them.
“Water is crucial to support life ” – you got that right man.
a related note = the very first thing that Trump did after taking office in ’16 was to eliminate the American Clean Water Act that Nixon had instituted all those decades ago. because who needs clean drinking water, right? IMO the entire republican agenda revolves around the elimination of environmental protections.
Clean water is absolutely essential – It should be regarded as a crime against humanity to pollute underground water reservoirs as a result of fracking, In times of drought farmers need this supply for cattle and or crops.
So then take into account that G Bush bought this massive property in South America Paraguay which sits on top of the Guaraní Aquifer which is one of largest sources of fresh water in the world.
What were they thinking?
Selling clean water back to people who’ supply was deliberately poisoned so that the US could sell fracked gas to the EU [after first having blown up the NS pipeline which isn’t the only pipeline that the US has blown up. [ Back in 2003 during its invasion of Iraq – the United States destroyed the Kirkuk-Banias pipeline]
See where this is going, first they eliminate the existing source then they replace it with their own and far more expensive product regardless of the cost to the environment humanity or democratic ideology.
Hey I’m all for it: “President Biden is committed to staying in Syria ”
Get that man a green beret and a .22 and let him stay in the desert to fight ISIS and Assad, but let all the other Americans come home.
The home page said “BIDEN COMMITTED”. If only that had been the whole headline.
GOOD ONE Wars! 😂
Biden isn’t calling the shots on anything.
They’re there to steal Syrian oil and food and at some point get stricken by opposition groups, and then forced to leave the country humiliated just like Afghanistan…! US is famous in repeating its mistakes,,,!
Of course! US Oil Corps. will be there, and the forces to protect their profits until the last drop of oil is stolen.
“After Escalation, White House Says US Troops in Syria are There to Stay NSC spokesman John Kirby says Biden is committed to staying in Syria despite the risks”
Of course, stealing natural resources is what America does.
Yet you defend Ukraine against an illegal invader? What crass hypocrites…and hopeless media that endorse this crime with their silence.
Helpless fat Americans endorse thievery with their fake votes in a military dictatorship of the olligarchiate.
I learned a new word today Garrett! OLLIGARCHIATE.
So the president of the US announces that we intend to occupy a country which is a member of the UN – against the will of it’s government – for some indeterminate period.
Yet our so-called government broadcasts daily, nay hourly, descriptions of the dastardly actions of a certain country which has intervened in a neighbor’s mistreatment of its own population…
I consider this to be the end of the UN – which was always a joke, the end of “Rules based Order”, the end of the experiment in democratic governance, and the end of the myth that the US has or, indeed has ever had, any respect for international law.