A VERY BIG STORY – OVERNIGHT:  There is almost a sense of shock in diplomatic and journalistic circles over President Biden's air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria yesterday.  You mean Biden did something like this?

Yeah, he did.  Republicans are supportive, Democrats rather muted.  Reports say that most of the Arab world, which despises the Iranian government, is also supportive.  The Israelis are very supportive.  The president is giving no vague excuses.  He's holding firm, at least for now.  From Reuters:

"You can't act with impunity. Be careful," US President Joe Biden told reporters in Texas when asked what message he was sending Iran with the US airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria.

Syria said the strikes were a cowardly act and urged Biden not to follow "the law of the jungle."

An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four. US officials said they were limited in scope to show Biden's administration will act firmly while trying to avoid a big regional escalation.

Washington and Tehran are seeking maximum leverage in attempts to save Iran's nuclear deal reached with world powers in 2015 but abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, after which regional tensions soared and fears of full-scale conflict grew.

"Syria condemns in the strongest terms the cowardly US attack on areas in Deir al-Zor near the Syrian-Iraqi border," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"It (the Biden administration) is supposed to stick to international legitimacy, not to the law of the jungle as (did) the previous administration."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the US strikes, calling them "illegal aggression" and a violation of human rights and international law.

The air strikes, early on Friday local time, targeted militia sites on the Syrian side of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, where groups backed by Iran control an important crossing for weapons, personnel and goods.

Western officials and some Iraqi officials accuse Iranian-backed groups of involvement in deadly rocket attacks on US sites and personnel in Iraq over the last month.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also criticized the US strikes and called for "unconditional respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria."

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the air strikes in Syria were meant to send the message that Biden will act to protect Americans.

Future US actions in the region will be deliberative and will aim to deescalate tensions in Syria, Psaki said.

And...

US lawmakers from both political parties welcomed the strikes but a number of Democrats questioned the legal justification under which they were carried out and the continuation of military operations in the Middle East.

"I am very concerned that last night's strike by US forces in Syria puts our country on the path of continuing the Forever War instead of ending it," said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US strikes totally destroyed nine facilities and partially destroyed two facilities at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to carry out the strikes was meant to signal that, while the United States wanted to punish the militias, it did not want the situation to spiral into a bigger conflict.

COMMENT:  We are somewhat reassured by these strikes that Biden will not be another Obama, but we certainly want further assurance.  Our allies are backing us, and were probably consulted in advance.  (See next story.) 

Biden has, over his career, generally been wrong on foreign policy, favoring responses that were too soft and unconvincing.  We trust that, as president, he will see the world differently.

February 26,  2021