BEIRUT, LEBANON (11:10 A.M.) – Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released side-by-side maps that showed the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) previous occupation of parts of Syria and Iraq.
In the maps posted by the Secretary of State, the Islamic State’s once large presence in Iraq and Syria can be seen stretched across both countries, especially in the regions along the Euphrates River Valley.
However, what is missing in these maps (below) is any mention of Iran and the forces that worked alongside the Iranians in both Syria and Iraq.
Where we started WHERE WE ENDED pic.twitter.com/zmPA6eAc7U
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 13, 2021
In particular, Pompeo’s maps show areas retaken by “coalition partnered forces”, but he leaves out that several units of the Popular Mobilization Units (Hashd Al-Sha’abi), which were later attacked by the United States in the areas liberated from ISIS, were coordinating with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran.
The map on the right, which shows the end of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, is left blank to show the ‘victory’ declared by the U.S.-led Coalition against the Islamic State.
However, once again, the U.S. Secretary of State leaves out the fact that the Syrian Arab Army and their allies, Russia and Iran, declared victory over the same terrorist group in 2019.
While the U.S. administration has claimed their main objective in Syria is to defeat ISIS, the Coalition forces continue to operate in the eastern, northern and southeastern part of the country.
What is left out from the maps is the Trump administration’s deployment of U.S. troops at several oil fields in Syria, which has furthered the economic crisis inside the country.
Nearly two years after the announcement of the Islamic State’s defeat, the U.S. still occupies several oil fields inside the Syrian Arab Republic, including the Levantine country’s largest one, Al-Omar.
With no planned exit from Syria in the near future, it appears Washington’s focus is and has been to push regime change and contain the Iranian and Russian presence inside the country.
