US President Donald Trump's unilateral pullout from the Iranian nuclear deal May 8 and increased warnings May 21 by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against Tehran’s ballistic missiles and regional proxy programs could herald more tension between Tehran and Washington, more specifically in areas where the two powers are in competition.
Pompeo said the United States and its allies would work on deterring Iranian aggression and track down Iranian operatives and proxies such as Hezbollah. Northeastern Syria is one region where this rivalry could play out because of the presence of US and Iranian troops supporting, respectively, Kurdish and regime forces, with a possible military escalation between the two powers.Also, Iran has been engaged in a faceoff with Israel since May 8, with the two countries exchanging rocket fire.
On May 7, the pro-regime website Al-Masdar reported, “The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a massive assault in western Deir Ezzor … targeting the Islamic State’s (ISIS) large pocket in the Badiya region near the Homs provincial border. Backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Liwaa Al-Quds (Palestinian paramilitary), the Syrian Arab Army began the operation on Monday by pushing west of the strategic city of Al-Mayadeen in central Deir Ezzor.”
Nearly concomitantly, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the US-led coalition announced a push on IS on the borders with Iraq. Since November, following the official Damascus announcement of victory over IS, both northern and eastern regions of Syria have become demarcation points between international and regional forces.
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