US pullout strengthens Iran 'land bridge': analysts

[TomSea]

US pullout strengthens Iran 'land bridge': analysts

(image)
A Syrian man waves an Iranian flag as a convoy carrying aid provided by Iran arrives in Deir ez-Zor in September 2017. File photo: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

By Jean Marc Mojon

BEIRUT - President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria risks shattering a cornerstone of Washington's Middle East policy by allowing Iran to consolidate a "land bridge" to the Mediterranean.

The much-bandied about scenario that sees Iran redrawing the regional map by entrenching a land corridor across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon is becoming a reality, analysts say.

Critics of Trump's decision argue that for all his fiercely anti-Iranian stance, he has just gifted Tehran a decades-old strategic goal.

Read more at:   http://www.rudaw.net/english/analysis/21122018