The American military has carried out air strikes on militias loyal to Iran in the Syrian-Iraqi border area. According to the Pentagon, these were retaliatory strikes for a deadly drone attack on a base of the American-led coalition against the "Islamic State" (IS) in the Syrian city of Hassakeh, which is located in the northeast of the country controlled by Kurdish forces. An employee of a private security company was killed; another and five American soldiers were wounded, it said in a statement.

Christoph Ehrhardt

Correspondent for the Arab countries based in Beirut.

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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said the "precision airstrikes" were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden and targeted groups associated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards. "No group will attack our troops with impunity," he said.

The American air strikes on Friday night throw a spotlight on a shadow war, of which only a part reaches the public. On one side are the regime in Tehran and loyal Shiite militias directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, on the other the United States and Israel. The battlefield is – among other things – the Syrian-Iraqi border area.

Shiite enclaves loyal to Iran

Again and again, the border town of Al-Bukamal appears. Nearby, the Revolutionary Guards have set up the "Imam Ali Base," a large base, satellite images show. According to Israeli assessments, "advanced weapons" are also stored there.

The regime in Tehran has taken control of a land corridor that extends into Lebanon, and the area around Al-Bukamal is a hub for arms supplies to Iran's allies, not least Lebanon's Hezbollah. Israel's main concern is missiles with precise guidance systems. Israeli air strikes are repeatedly reported from there, as well as from other regions; for example, to the airport in Damascus or the one in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

Local journalists from the province of Deir el-Zor have also been reporting for some time that Iran is working in the predominantly Sunni area to establish Shiite and Iran-loyal enclaves in order to secure the Shiite regime's long-term influence in the strategically important region.

The American troop presence in eastern Syria is a thorn in Tehran's side, which is why Shiite militias loyal to Iran repeatedly attack American bases with missiles or drones. The American troops are stationed there in the fight against terrorism.

But their presence also prevents the Iranian-allied Syrian regime from gaining access to Syria's largest oil field, the Al-Omar oil field. Bashar al-Assad is dependent on Iranian support – more than ever since his Russian patron Vladimir Putin launched a war of attrition in Ukraine, which is also draining the Russian military.