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Just six months after Trump administration She said that it would start withdrawing American forces in Syria, and the United States confirmed this week that it will also start reducing the number of American forces in Iraq under an agreement reached by the Biden administration – which warns security experts in Iran and the “shadow empire”.
Just six months after the Trump administration announced plans to reduce the American forces in Syria, the Biden administration confirmed this week that it will also reduce the levels of forces in Iraq under a new agreement – security experts warn of the move against strengthening Iran and the “shadow empire”.
The changes have occurred in a The perceived reduction In the threat of the terrorist network ISIS and a desire in the United States to end “wars forever”.
But our presence in the United States is in both Iraq and Syria Are security experts interested in the power vacuum that you will create in both countries, and the immediate threat posed by Iran?
Iran For decades, its influence has been expanded in both Iraq and Syria, and has created a very complex and integrated presence in the region militarily, politically, economically and socially – which makes it very difficult to transform its influence or frustrate even amid the change of the regime in Syria.

People wave guns in the air gathering to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime in Amayad Square on December 8 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getti Emayiz)
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“The relationship between the Islamic revolutionary Iran and Syria dates back to the eighties. It is not something that has just started with the emergence of the Syrian civil war,” Greg Roman, CEO of the Middle East Forum, told Fox News Digital. “They took 40 years of relationships and eventually turned it into an institution.”
Iran used the Shiite armed forces not only SyriaBut Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, to build a “parallel military infrastructure” in coordination with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which turned Syria into an “Iranian operating base forward.”
According to the investigation report, which was collected by the Middle East Forum, using sources on the land included in Iranian military facilities throughout Syria since 2018, Iran has not only built tunnels and weapons warehouses through its behavior, and Tehran was deeply integrated into the daily life of the Sirians through an integrated system that mixes military consequences with civilian programs.
The leadership structure also exceeds the borders of the traditional nation -state by integrating the Iranians, LebaneseAnd Iraqi leaders.
While Iran is now facing opposition in Syria after the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime, with the seizure of December 2024 by the Sunni Palfation Organization, Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HST)-which the United States considers once in the name of A. Terrorist organization Derivative of al -Qaeda – Tehran has the ability to benefit from the absence of a unified government throughout Syria, as well as a very complex geopolitical dynamic as Israel, Turkey and Russia compete for more influence in the country.

Iranian -backed Shiite fighters carry their weapons in Iraq, south of Tikrit, on their way to the city of Al -Alam, which is controlled by the Islamic State, where they are preparing to launch an attack on March 6, 2015. (Reuters/Thaayer Al -Sudani)
The Iraqi president says that the nation is “100 % safe” amid ISIS fears remaining a militia.
Roman indicated that if HST is in coordination with Kurds In the northeast or Druze in the southwest, they are unable to create “Bulwark” against Iranian influence, and then Tehran can be in a good position to expand his regional interest under “Empire Shadow”.
The report found, “It may be the most anxious thing that was the previous one that Iran’s success in building this shadow empire.” “The ability to build a parallel military infrastructure, work independently of the host government’s control, and to maintain strategic capabilities, although international scrutiny provides a template that can be repeated elsewhere in the region.”
Although its strategy may be somewhat different, Iran has been used again and repeated energy voids to expand its arrival and face the influence of the United States, as shown in both AfghanistanThe Taliban supported, and in Iraq, where it began to support the groups of Shiite militias fighting the United States early in 2003.
“The Iranians have a strategy in Iraq and effective.” “They use military, political and economic means to achieve their goals, and their proximity to Iraq really helps them to achieve this.”
Rogio said that there are hundreds of thousands of militants supported by Iran in Iraq and who are largely part of Popular mobilization forcesWhich was strongly influential in fighting ISIS, which is part of the Iraqi armed forces under the leadership of the Prime Minister, but it is also gently affected.

The popular mobilization forces in Iraq, which are dominated by the Iranian -backed Shiite militias, carry an Islamic flag after the Iraqi forces restored the recycling of the northern city from ISIS earlier in the month, the image taken on April 5, 2015, in Tikrit, Iraq. (Mohamed Sawaf/AFP via Getty Images)
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“They have a great impact on the Iraqi government. They are occupying a large bloc dominated in the Iraqi parliament. These militias also have economic power,” Rogio said. “Iran has built these militia forces in the same way as Hezbollah, and they mainly want to eventually become like the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran.”
Romanian and Rogio expressed their concern about the withdrawal of American forces from the region, and most importantly, the United States removal affects Iran’s search Washington is strongly fighting And its interests.
“We have not learned the lessons of Afghanistan, even Iraq’s lessons,” Rogio said. “I don’t care if we have 100 or 100,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, or anywhere else – do we have the appropriate forces to achieve the task we put for them?
“We are talking about the numbers of forces … We are not really talking about what our mission is in Iraq? Is it a counter -task? Is this the task of Iranian influence?
“Do we have an appropriate mixture of military, diplomatic, political and economic influence in Iraq to achieve these goals? I do not think we are doing.”

American forces provide military training for YPG/SDF members, which Türkiye considers an extension of the PKK in Syria, in the Qamisli area in Al -Husaka Province, Syria on August 18, 2023. (Hedil Amir/Anadolu Photo by Getty Images)
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Both experts indicated that the United States has a long history of not taking Iran and the threat it poses seriously – a problem that has spanned decades in all republican and democratic departments.
“The Iranians are patient. They are working on the time frames for decades and generations. We are not patient. We are working on time frameworks and election sessions for two years and four years,” said Rogio. “In the end, Iran is looking forward to leading the United States from the region and expanding its influence in neighboring countries, whether it is Afghanistan, whether it is Iraq, whether it is the Gulf states.
“The ultimate goal is to remove the United States so that it can expand its impact.”
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