The eventual defeat of ISIS will not beget peace and bliss in the Middle East — another actor is waiting in the wings to step in, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle told the Washington Examiner.
"The day after Raqqa falls is going to be the moment that Iran moves to try to oust the United States from the region," Sen. Marco Rubio told the Examiner.
And with Iran is Russia, eager to create a "post-West world order," its foreign minister said Saturday in Munich.
"I do think there will be some collusion between Russia and Iran," Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel told the Examiner. "I worry about it."
Reports late last week suggested the U.S. is considering sending thousands of American boots to combat ISIS in Syria, whereas President Barack Obama's administration preferred reliance on varying sects to do the fighting for us — a complicated and problematic strategy at best.
Does the U.S. choose again to enter into a full-scale military incursion both now and after the fall of ISIS or continue to try to navigate the evolving dynamics of religious and sectarian groups to find a common "frenemy."
"It's not easy, there's no easy solution," Engel told the Examiner. "We have to just monitor it. I just know two things: Iran is not our friend and Russia's not our friend."
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