Tensions with Iran and its
proxies led to accelerated transfer of bases housing coalition troops to Iraqi
forces
Shawn Snow
2 days ago
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2020/05/14/tensions-with-iran-and-its-proxies-led-to-accelerated-transfer-of-bases-housing-coalition-troops-to-iraqi-forces/
U.S. Marines with 2nd
Battalion, 7th Marines, assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task
Force – Crisis Response – Central Command prepare their gear for departure in
support of the transfer of Al-Taqaddum, Iraq, Mar. 24, 2020. (Sgt. Robert G.
Gavaldon/ Marine Corps)
An inspector
general report detailed how tensions between Iran and its militia forces with
the U.S. led to an accelerated transfer of several bases to Iraqi troops over
force protection issues.
From March 17
to March 30 the U.S. handed over four bases to Iraqi
forces, to include an airfield near Mosul and a strategic outpost near the
Iraq-Syria border known as al-Qaim. In April the coalition handed over a fifth
base, Taqaddum air field,
which fell outside the reporting quarter for the IG report.
Operation
Inherent Resolve — the U.S.-led mission to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria —
detailed in several news releases that the base transfers were long planned in
advanced and were the result of successful operations against ISIS.
US hands over base to Iraqi
forces in area known to be a hotbed for Iran-backed militia
“Who wants to bet that 6 months
from now, #Iran-backed militias will be the “ISF” [Iraq security forces] in
command of al-Qaim base?"
Shawn Snow
But in a
recent IG report, the coalition admitted the base transfers — while long
planned in advanced — were accelerated “in some part due to increased threats
presented by malign actors.”
OIR told the IG that the
“nascent threat of malign actors” and the “change in focus from [defeat-ISIS]
operations to force protection" resulted in a force posture change.
OIR noted that a coalition task
force “discontinued face-to-face interaction with their Iraqi partners, and
ground travel to partner locations halted, ' which reduced OIR’s “visibility
into partner force activity.”
The transfers came amid
tensions with Iran following a January U.S. decapitation strike that killed
Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and a subsequent
retaliatory ballistic missile strike launched by Iran that wounded dozens of
American troops stationed on two Iraq bases.
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Iran-backed militias continued
deadly rocket attacks targeting coalition troops housed across Iraq bases. Two
U.S. troops and a British service member were killed when more than a dozen
rockets slammed Camp Taji in March.
“This base transfer occurred
amid force protection concerns sparked by escalating tensions between the
United States and Iran and its proxy militias, which CJTF-OIR [Combined Joint
Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve] said led to an acceleration of the
long-term transfer plan,” Sean W. O’Donnell, the acting inspector general for
the DoD said in IG report.
OIR told the
IG that “the frequency and increasing lethality of these attacks” from “malign
actors” resulted in the U.S. shifting priorities from defeat ISIS to force
protection.
The DoD
Office of the Undersecretary for Policy, International Security Affairs told
the IG that the coalition’s shift to force protection “diminished” support to
Iraqi force and “probably sowed doubt within the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces]”
whether support would return.
There was another factor as
well.
The IG report also detailed
that COVID-19 caused disruptions for Iraqi and Syrian partner forces. Iraqi
forces paused training while Syrian Democratic Forces paused operations against
ISIS fighters due to the pandemic.
OIR told the
IG that it “resumed most relationships” with Iraqi forces over a four-week period
but not all relationships returned to “pre-pause levels.”
OIR reported
a decrease in some visibility of the OIR mission since the consolidation of
forces, according to the report.
#پیش بسوی قیام سراسری #ما بر اندازیم# کانونهای شورشی #Iran
#سال_سرنگونی #ایران #کروناویروس #قیام_تا_پیروزی #coronavirus
#شورش زندانیان #تيك_تاك_سرنگوني #COVID2019 # اتحادوهمبستگی
# مرگ_بر_دیکتاتور #مجاهدین_خلق ایران #IranRegimeChange
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