By Al-Fassel | 2024-04-19

A decade of challenging humanitarian crises in the Middle East has put in sharp contrast the constructive role the United States plays in the region while Iran's actions have served only its own expansionist plans.

The United States has devoted billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance toward crises stemming from ongoing conflicts in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza.

Meanwhile, Iran has been funneling lethal aid to its proxies, flooding the region with smuggled weapons, ammunition and illegal drugs.

Since 2021, the Iranian regime has spent $16 billion propping up the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and supporting its other partners and proxies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the US State Department said in a 2018 report.

The report also said Iran funds Lebanese Hizbullah to the tune of $700 million annually and gives another $100 million a year to Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported in September 2020.

In May 2020, former Iranian MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh was quoted by Iranian media as saying that "Iran might have spent between $20 billion and $30 billion just on its involvement in Syria" where Iran-backed militias have been fighting on the side of the regime, the outlet said.

Meanwhile, some estimates put the cost of Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel from Iranian territory on April 13 at about $250 million.

In that attack, Iran launched more than 300 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles towards Israel in retaliation for the April 1 Israeli strike in Damascus, Syria.

Ballistic missiles in Iran can cost up to $99,937 each, The Guardian reported.

US humanitarian aid

In contrast, since 1946, the Middle East region has received more US foreign assistance than any other region in the world, according to an August 2023 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

Since 2010, the United States has provided over $28.3 billion in humanitarian response funding to the Middle East.

It is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syria where it has allocated $16.7 billion to meet humanitarian needs since 2012, the report said.

The United States and Saudi Arabia are also among the largest donors to annual United Nations (UN) appeals for aid for Yemen.

The UN describes Yemen's humanitarian crisis as the largest in the world, with 21.6 million people in need of urgent assistance.

Since 2010, the United States has provided over $6 billion in humanitarian aid for Yemen.

The Iraqi people have also received $3.5 billion in US aid in the form of food, improved sanitation and hygiene, and other assistance for displaced and vulnerable communities since 2014, the CRS report said.

And in Lebanon, "the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis coupled with a historic economic collapse beginning in 2019 has driven an increase in humanitarian needs among vulnerable populations."

The United States has provided over $1 billion in humanitarian funding to Lebanon since 2020.

More recently in Gaza, the US military has been using all avenues to deliver aid by air, sea and land to civilians affected by the conflict.

Joint airdrops with Jordan have seen the delivery of more than 855 tons of food aid to northern Gaza since March 2. US troops will also be building a floating pier and causeway off the coast of Gaza this month to deliver aid by sea.

Iran's own interests

Iran's support for its militias, including Lebanese Hizbullah and the Houthis in Yemen, has fueled street protests since late 2019 in which the Iranian people have expressed their anger over the regime's misplaced priorities.

Economic mismanagement and the allocation of big chunks of the Iranian budget to fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its destabilizing activities in the region have led to a staggering increase in prices and the free fall of the national currency's value against the dollar.

During demonstrations in 2020, protesters chanted "Leave Syria, think of us," and "No to Gaza, no to Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran," in a clear sign of their frustration with the regime, RFE/RL reported.

Beyond their effects on Iranians, the IRGC's destabilizing activities have wreaked havoc in the whole region.

Drones and missiles that the Houthis have been using to attack shipping in the Red Sea since November are linked to Iran. Similarly, Iran smuggles weapons to Hizbullah by sea via Syrian ports.

The IRGC is accused of directing and supporting drug smuggling operations through its militias, which then use the huge profits from drug trafficking to buy weapons and finance their activities, say observers.

By weakening the societal fabric of regional countries and beefing up the Iran-backed militias with weapons, the Iranian regime seeks to advance its expansionist policies in the Middle East, they said.