Three U.S. service members were killed and more than 30 wounded during a drone strike in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and officials in Washington confirmed Sunday. The attack did not take place on Jordanian soil, but in Syria, a Jordanian government spokesman said.
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Three US service members were killed and more than 30 injured during a drone attack in northeastern Jordan, near the border with Syria, President Joe Biden and US officials reported this Sunday, January 28.
Biden blamed Iranian-backed groups for the attackthe first fatal attack against US forces since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October and sent shockwaves across the Middle East.
“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know that it was carried out by radical Iranian-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” Biden said in a statement.
At least 34 staff members were being evaluated for possible traumatic injury, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Last night, three US service members were killed, and many wounded, during an unmanned aerial drone attack on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border.
Jill and I join the families and friends of our fallen in grieving the loss of these warriors in this…
—President Biden (@POTUS) January 28, 2024
Various officials explained that some wounded US forces were evacuated from the base for further treatment. This source indicated that a drone hit near the barracks early in the morning, which could explain the high number of victims.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization of hardline militant groups backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for attacks on three bases, including one on the Jordan-Syria border.
The attack is a major escalation of the already tense situation in the Middle East, where war broke out in Gaza after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed. Israel's subsequent attack on Gaza has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to the local Health Ministry.
Read alsoFrom Gaza to Yemen and Pakistan: flashpoints of tension spread across the Middle East
Since then, US forces have been attacked more than 150 times by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, causing at least 70 casualties before Sunday's attack, most of them traumatic injuries. American warships have also been assaulted by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, who regularly attack commercial ships passing through the Red Sea waters off the coast of Yemen.
While the United States has so far maintained an official line that Washington is not at war in the region, it has been retaliating against Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria and carrying out attacks on Yemen's Houthi military capabilities.
“We will continue our commitment to fighting terrorism. And we have no doubt: we will hold all those responsible accountable whenever and however we choose,” Biden said in his statement released by the White House.
Syria or Jordan?
From Jordan, Minister of Government Communications and official government spokesman Muhannad Moubaideen told Al-Mamlaka television channel on Sunday that the attack targeting US forces near the border with Syria did not occur inside that country.
🟡📸 Ürdün hükümet sözcüsü Muhannad Moubaideen bugün yaptığı açıklamada, ABD askerlerinin öldüğü saldırının Ürdün içinde gerçekleşmediğini söyledi.
Mobaideen, saldırının Suriye'deki El-Tanf üssünü hedef aldığını açıkladı.#Iraq'taki İslami Direniş, Suriye'deki el-Şeddadi,… https://t.co/Nb7B2asqZS pic.twitter.com/ma2Y1ok0Bs—Savunma İşleri. (@savunmaisleri) January 28, 2024
Mubaideen explained to Al-Mamlaka that the attack targeted the Al-Tanf base in Syria. The US base at Al Tanf is in Syria, on the border with Jordan and Iraq. EFE
Iran's pressure on the United States
Biden's Republican opponents seized on the attack as evidence of the Democratic president's failure to confront Iran.
“The only response to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran's terrorist forces… Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton said in a statement.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior official with the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, directly linked the attack to Israel's campaign in Gaza.
“The killing of three American soldiers is a message to the American administration that unless the killing of innocents in Gaza stops, it must confront the entire nation,” he told Reuters.
“The continued US-Zionist aggression against Gaza is capable of erupting a crisis in the region.”
The US Army explained that the attack occurred at a base in northeastern Jordan, near the border with Syria.. He didn't name the base. US military activity in Jordan can be a sensitive issue, particularly at a time of intense tensions in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A person familiar with the matter identified the US base in Jordan that was attacked as Tower 22.
In Jordan there has been growing concern about the spread of war. Late last year, the Jordanian government asked Washington to deploy Patriot air defense systems to reinforce its border defense.
Jordan has asked for more help to tackle drones used in raging drug war along the border with Syria. The kingdom has hundreds of American trainers in the country and conducts extensive exercises with American troops throughout the year.
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