Friday, June 13, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About Time Africa Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » World News » As Biden Responds to Iran-Linked Attacks With Air Strikes, Fears of a Wider War Grow

As Biden Responds to Iran-Linked Attacks With Air Strikes, Fears of a Wider War Grow

October 31, 2023
in World News
0
540
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

When President Biden issued an order on Thursday for two airstrikes, the targets were in eastern Syria but the intended recipient of the message he was sending was not. Both the weapons depot and the ammunition dump blown up by F-16 jets were linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who defense officials say have employed proxy forces to execute a string of attacks against US bases in the region.

Biden is hoping to convince Tehran to end the conflict before things go too far. But escalating to stop things from further escalating requires a delicate touch, and some observers in the region fear Iran’s leaders have no interest in pulling back now.

Since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel, U.S. forces have been increasingly getting drawn into hot engagements with forces armed, trained and advised by leaders in Tehran. Over the last three weeks, Iranian-backed militias have launched 19 ballistic drone attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, injuring some 21 American troops. Last week, a U.S. naval ship in the Red Sea blew up a long-range rocket heading toward Israel that was launched by Iranian-backed forces in Yemen.

Iran’s actions seem designed to draw the U.S. deeper into direct conflict, says Ryan Crocker, a retired diplomat who served as ambassador across the MIddle East, including Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

If an attack by Iranian armed groups manages to kill any U.S. troops, Biden would be under tremendous pressure to respond forcefully, Crocker says, bringing the U.S. closer to a direct war with Tehran. If Iranian-backed forces “get lucky and kill 20 US military, the administration is gonna be compelled to make a major response, and in that target deck would have to be targets within Iran itself,” says Crocker, who is now a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

ReadAlso

Iran’s supreme leader forced to wear flak jacket as fears of existential threat grow

Israel Vows to Capture, ‘Behead’ Houthi Leaders After Ballistic Missile Attack

Which illustrates just how quickly the conflict that started with Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel could end up spinning into a wider war, with devastating consequences.

U.S. military forces in the Middle East are on high alert for additional attacks. Biden has deployed the powerful USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group in the Eastern Mediterranean in a show of force designed to prevent conflict in the region from spreading beyond between Israel and Hamas. Another carrier group, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, is sailing toward the Mediterranean, will eventually move to the Persian Gulf, putting it in waters off the coast of Iran, defense officials say.

ADVERTISEMENT

Beyond the carrier groups, the U.S. also has jets stationed at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey and has added additional fighter jets to the region. And the three-ship Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, which holds 1,000 Marines, is on high alert nearby.

There are also U.S. troops stationed at Al Assad airbase in Iraq and Al Tanf garrison in Syria to help counter the Islamic State in the region. It was American troops on those two bases that have come under repeated attack from Iranian-backed forces this month.

Biden used diplomatic channels this week to send a rare message directly to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “My warning to the Ayatollah was that if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond, and he should be prepared,” President Biden said at the White House on Thursday, hours before the strikes in Syria.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin added in his own statement on Thursday, warning that “these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop.”

“Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces,” Austin said. “We will not let them. If attacks by Iran’s proxies against U.S. forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people.”

So far, “The administration has gotten it right,” says Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Program. But he adds the risks in this current moment go beyond leaders on either side orchestrating targeted attacks in the region.

“My biggest concern is the chances for unintended escalation,” Panikoff says.

Iran has spent years funding, arming and training militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, as well as backing Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which has a robust arsenal of ballistic rockets that can strike deep into Israel.

A rocket barrage from Hezbollah could inadvertently kill Israeli soldiers or be viewed as more intense than it was intended, Panikoff says.  That could set off a chain of events that would be hard to stop. “I worry mostly about the potential for ending up in a conflict that was not desired by anybody,” Panikoff says.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military frequently exchange fire on Israel’s northern border. So far, as Israel focuses on Gaza in its South, there isn’t a sign that Iran wants Hezbollah to launch a major attack on Israel’s other flank.

Looming over all of the brinkmanship in the region is Iran’s ambitions to have a nuclear weapon. When Biden came into office, he tried to start back up the nuclear deal designed to restrict Iran’s advancement toward a nuclear bomb that President Donald Trump had scrapped. But those efforts faltered.

“I am confident they have the internal capability to produce a nuclear weapon,” says Crocker, the former long-time US diplomat, “so it’s simply a question of do they decide to pull the lever on that and develop one.”

Tags: Middle EastPresident BidenSyria
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

What Russia Hopes to Gain From the Israel-Hamas Conflict

Next Post

DRC faces risk of violence and crisis as elections loom – Report

You MayAlso Like

Featured

What caused Air India flight to crash? Here’s what investigators are looking for

June 12, 2025
UK

UK-bound Air India with plane crashes with 242 people on board

June 12, 2025
US

Elon Musk issues grovelling apology to Trump saying that his posts ‘went too far’

June 11, 2025
US

Donald Trump: ‘Paid insurrectionists’ are behind LA riots

June 11, 2025
World News

Comedian jailed for eight years for offensive jokes

June 11, 2025
A general view shows a shopping mall heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine December 29, 2023. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk region/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
Russia-Ukraine

Russia launches missiles, dozens of drones in deadly Ukraine attack

June 10, 2025
Next Post

DRC faces risk of violence and crisis as elections loom - Report

Biden signs U.S.' first AI executive order to create safeguards

Biden signs sweeping executive order regulating artificial intelligence

Discussion about this post

Study reveals exact number of times women should have sex per week

Uchenna Okafor Honoured with African Icons and Heroes Award for Community Development

UK-bound Air India with plane crashes with 242 people on board

How Nigeria’s Justice Minister Quietly ‘Cleansed’ Fidelity Bank MD from Billion-Naira Fraud Case

Beyond Handlebar: The Transformative Journey of Comrade Anisha Victor

Elon Musk issues grovelling apology to Trump saying that his posts ‘went too far’

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1236 shares
    Share 494 Tweet 309
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1063 shares
    Share 425 Tweet 266
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    965 shares
    Share 386 Tweet 241
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    900 shares
    Share 360 Tweet 225
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    734 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0
The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be hosted by the United States, one of the co-hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026 [Luke Hales/Getty Images via AFP]

Club World Cup 2025: Full schedule, fixtures, dates and venues for Chelsea and Man City

June 13, 2025

China to remove tariffs on nearly all goods from Africa

June 12, 2025
The Club World Cup is surrounded by politics | Anna Moneymaker/Getty

How Infantino embraced Trump and the Club World Cup as a political football

June 12, 2025

What caused Air India flight to crash? Here’s what investigators are looking for

June 12, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIME AFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIME AFRICA biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About Time Africa Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 Time Africa Magazine - All Right Reserved. Time Africa is a trademark of Times Associates, registered in the U.S, & Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.