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As the Pentagon prepares to release its first strategy under the Donald Trump administration later this month, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said today that Iran has not succeeded in creating a so-called land bridge through Syria to the Mediterranean Sea.
Over the summer, Iranian-backed groups helped Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad regain access to large oil fields near the Iraqi border and gave Tehran a chance to link up with Shiite militias in Iraq. The move stoked fears that Iran would use those gains to send more Shiite fighters into the region and establish a Shiite crescent all the way to Lebanon.
