JERUSALEM — The swift collapse of the Syrian regime has drawn sharp criticism of the Biden administration’s attempts to claim victory over a brutal Middle Eastern dictatorship.
Concerns are rising regarding a potential blind spot in the administration’s Syria policy, where approximately 900 U.S. troops and contractors are deployed in the northeast.
Addressing the issue, President Biden appeared to take credit for a foreign policy win, stating, “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East.”
“This is a direct result of the blows that Ukraine, Israel have delivered upon their own self-defense with unflagging support of the United States,” he added.
John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy, and former national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, told Digital, “President Biden’s attempt to claim credit for weakening Iran and Hezbollah is inappropriate.”
“The reality is that if Israel had heeded the Biden administration’s advice over the past 14 months, Iran and Hezbollah would be stronger, and Israel weaker,” Hannah, who also served in the Clinton administration, argued.
“President Biden deserves credit for supporting Israel’s self-defense against the multifront war launched by Iran and its proxies on October 7, 2023,” he continued. “However, he failed to provide the support needed for a decisive victory over Iran and Hezbollah, a crucial factor in last week’s events in Syria.”
“The Syrian regime’s collapse is a direct consequence of the heavy blows inflicted on Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Monday. “Challenges remain, but we are ready to address them.”
He also thanked President-elect Donald Trump for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019.
“The Golan will forever be an inseparable part of Israel,” he stated, according to Israeli news agency TPS-IL.
Digital reported that since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in southern Israel, which killed nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, the Biden administration has focused on targeting Hamas and Hezbollah, while avoiding direct strikes against Iran.
Following Biden’s speech, a senior administration official echoed the president’s assertion, stating, “U.S. policy is a direct contributor to this; it’s significant, important, and has fundamentally altered the Middle Eastern equation, as demonstrated by events this past week.”
Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, offered a contrasting view: “It’s unusual for an administration that has been cautious in its approach to the Assad regime and Iran to claim credit for Assad’s downfall.”
“Biden’s approach to the region has been characterized by risk aversion,” he added. “Israel’s actions against the Iran-backed threat network have broken long-standing obstacles to Washington’s regional policy.”
Democrat politicians such as former Secretary of State John Kerry and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been criticized for their past interactions with Assad. Former National Security Council spokesperson Gordon Johndroe commented on Pelosi’s 2007 visit with Assad, stating, “These visits convinced the Assad regime that its actions supporting terrorists had no consequences.”
Experts have noted a pattern of misjudgments regarding Middle Eastern dictators and radical Islamist movements by the Biden and Obama administrations.
The Biden-Harris administration faced congressional criticism for the reportedly premature withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which led to the Taliban’s takeover and the seizure of U.S. weapons.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted, “Regarding U.S. interests in Syria, there are over 50,000 ISIS prisoners held by Kurdish forces who helped President Trump defeat the caliphate. These ISIS fighters planned attacks against the U.S. and our allies. An ISIS resurgence is a major threat. Obama and Biden made serious mistakes, requiring President Trump to fix them.”
On Sunday, U.S. Central Command launched numerous strikes against ISIS to prevent the group from exploiting the instability in Syria.
The Syrian Kurds have faced repeated attacks from Turkey and pro-Turkey Syrian Sunni jihadi organizations, including the Islamic State.
Sinam Sherkany Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council mission in the United States, told Digital, “Defeating Assad was the goal of all Syrians, to build a pluralistic democratic system that guarantees the rights of all ethnic and religious components and diversity in Syria.”
“ISIS is still present in the Syrian desert and has sleeper cells in northern and eastern Syria, in addition to ISIS fighters in prisons and the Al-Holl camp, all of which threaten our people, and the current situation could embolden ISIS to become active again,” Mohamad said.
Incoming freshman Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., told Digital, “President Biden’s weak leadership has eroded deterrence and encouraged our allies to hedge their bets. President Trump understood that arming the Kurds and working with them to dismantle ISIS was a critical success. The reward for standing with America should never be betrayal or abandonment.”
Hamadeh, whose parents are Syrian immigrants, added, “We must ensure Syrian Kurdish civilians are not caught in the crossfire and that they are integral to any peace process.”
Max Abrahms, a leading counterterrorism expert and professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Digital, “ISIS is expected to remain a significant issue in the new Syria. The Kurds and America share a strategic interest in combating ISIS. The greater the ISIS threat, the stronger the argument for maintaining American forces to work with the Syrian Democratic Forces.”
, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has been a key player in stopping the spread of ISIS in Syria.