Mattis Middle East Trip Sheds Light on Strategy for Middle East Conflicts

America’s strategy in the Middle East has been in the spotlight since the missile strike on a Syrian military base in early April, and now the nation’s defense chief is on a week-long roadtrip to meet with some of the region’s key U.S. allies.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first of several visits that will give the Trump administration an opportunity to clarify its strategy on a host of regional issues — from dealing with the Assad regime in Syria, to defeating ISIS, countering Iran, and preventing Yemen’s civil war from worsening. Mattis will hold meetings in four other countries on the trip, and we’ve broken down the significance of each to U.S. foreign policy and what may come up below:

Saudi Arabia is most significant counterweight to Iran among the region’s Muslim-majority nations and has been leading a coalition that’s fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, its neighbor to the south. The U.S. has carried out airstrikes and raids by special operations forces in Yemen against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of which led to the death of a Navy SEAL earlier this year. The Pentagon is considering ramping up assistance for Saudi Arabia’s campaign after the Obama administration curtailed aid in response to allegations that the Saudis carried out indiscriminate airstrikes that killed civilians. Additionally, the Saudis have debated sending their troops to help defeat ISIS in its stronghold of Raqqa.

Egypt is struggling to root out ISIS within its own borders, as the terrorist group has carried out attacks against security forces with regularity. Recently, ISIS bombed Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday, killing at least 47 people. The country, which is a long-time U.S. ally in the region, has declared a national state of emergency for dealing with the terror group. As a result, strengthening the Egyptian military’s ability to counter and defeat ISIS will be a focus of talks there.

Israel has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in its relationship with the U.S. Things had grown icy between the allies during the final weeks of the Obama administration, but have thawed since President Donald Trump took office. Israel faces several threats to its security, as it shares a border with Syria and also has to deal with two internationally-recognized terror groups that govern neighboring territory — Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Not only that, Israel remains uneasy about Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of its agreement to restrict its nuclear program over the long-term, so Mattis’s trip to Israel will be a busy one.

Qatar is the home of the primary U.S. airbase in the Middle East and joined its Persian Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates in opposing Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon. The country is also sensitive to provocations by Iran’s navy in the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow body of water through which all ships sailing to and from Persian Gulf ports must pass.

Djibouti hosts an American drone base from which covert strikes against militant groups in Yemen and Somalia are launched. The Pentagon is considering ramping up its campaign against the al-Shabab terror group in Somalia, which could lead to an increased U.S. military presence in Djibouti in the future.

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— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Dept. of Defense / Public Domain)