Where and why are the US military present in the Middle East, including Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar?

 Where and why are the US military present in the Middle East, including Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar?

Iranian state media said Iran had given a “strong and victorious response” to US attacks on its nuclear facilities.

Iran’s state news agency Tasnim said the Revolutionary Guards had targeted the US air base at Al-Udeid in Qatar. Reuters and AFP reported explosions in Doha.

The Pentagon confirmed that Iran had fired short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at Al-Udeid. A US Defense Department official said no American citizens were reported to have been injured in the Iranian attack.

Meanwhile, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said the Iranian attack on Qatar was a clear violation of its sovereignty, airspace, international law and the UN Charter.

He said Qatar’s air defenses had foiled the Iranian missile attacks, even though the air base had already been evacuated.

He said that all necessary measures have been taken to protect the Qatari armed forces, forces of friendly countries and others at the base.

According to the Qatari Foreign Ministry, no casualties were reported in the attack. The spokesman said that Qatar has the right to retaliate for this "aggression".

On the other hand, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said that the US military base that the Iranian army targeted in Qatar was far from civilian and residential areas.

According to the Iranian state news agency Tasnim, a statement issued by the secretariat of Iran's Supreme Security Council said that the move "does not pose any threat to our friendly and brotherly country of Qatar and its distinguished people."

"Iran is determined to maintain warm and historic relations with Qatar."

Regarding the attack on the US Al-Udeid base, the statement said that "the number of missiles used in this successful operation was equal to the bombs that the US used in the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities."

It is worth noting that after the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, President Donald Trump congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that they worked as a “team” and eliminated the “worst threat to Israel.”

However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that the United States had committed a dangerous military action against the Iranian people and violated international law. He had hinted at retaliation for the US attack.

Why are American troops thousands of miles away?

There are several reasons why the United States has stationed its troops thousands of miles away in the Middle East for decades.

The Middle East, located between Asia and North Africa, is rich in natural resources and its important position on the world map has been important for the foreign policy of other countries, especially the foreign policy of the United States

Oil

Since the discovery of an oil well in the eastern city of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia in 1938, the value of oil in the global economy has increased day by day.

Gilbert Ekhkar, professor of development studies at the British university SOAS, told the BBC World Service in a video that “when oil gained importance in the global economy, its strategic importance also increased.

Dr Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at the UK policy institute Chatham House, told the BBC that “most people assume that the US is in the region only because of oil, even though the US is self-sufficient in this regard and produced the highest amount of oil in 2022, which was 30% more than Saudi Arabia that year.”

 

According to Professor Gilbert, the US could also do this here to monitor other European countries and China’s access to Middle Eastern oil.

However, there are a few other important factors.

Israel

It should be remembered that the Middle East has been a victim of the Cold War between Russia and the US and the idea still exists in the US that it will fill any gap it leaves with Russia.

However, US sympathies for Israel have been since its establishment in 1948. The then US President Harry Truman signed the agreement 12 minutes after it was signed.

According to Lina Khatib, ‘America believes that whatever happened to the Jews during World War II was wrong and it considers it its right to fulfill the dream of the Jews and their separate sovereign state.’

In addition to Israel, the United States has also had good relations with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Security and Iran

According to Lina Khatib, the United States has assigned itself the role of a ‘global policeman’ in the world and the Middle East is an important region through which global maritime trade routes pas

After the September 11 attacks in 2001, when the United States decided to attack Iraq, more than 100,000 soldiers were sent to the Iraq War. However, the uncertainty that arose after the American occupation gave birth to the so-called Islamic State.

Thus, the United States has also taken action against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. In addition, America’s major rival Iran is also present in the same region.

Taqi Nasserat, former director of the Atlantic Council think tank and executive director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, says that the United States has economic, political and military assets in the Middle East that it needs to maintain a certain number of troops there to protect.

“The United States has several air bases in the region through which it can react at will and, in many cases, influence the situation without doing anything. As China and Russia are increasing their influence in the region, the presence of troops in the region gives the United States an advantage.”

America's role gives Israel the right to violate international law.

The United States has played a direct role in the wars in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East this century, and an indirect role in several other wars. However, analysts say that, given past experience, the United States will no longer want to be part of a major war in the Middle East.

Elizabeth Shekman Hurd, a political science professor at Northwestern University in the US, told the BBC that “no matter how important China is to the US, the US will always be looking for opportunities in the world where it can show its influence.”

“This situation may change, but at the moment the US is fully behind Israel and as long as this continues, Israel will continue to be helped to achieve its ethnic nationalist (agenda) and its goals of increasing its influence.”

“Despite the fierce competition between Russia and China, the US is still the only global power in the Middle East that has influence here and it uses it to tip the balance in Israel’s favor. The US can influence most countries in the region and it uses this concession to protect Israel when necessary,” says Taqi Nasserat, executive director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

"The US military and economic influence, coupled with its public and personal support for Israel, gives Israel the latitude to violate international law."