© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at South Carolina’s First within the Nation Dinner on the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S., January 27, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Picture
By Phil Stewart, Steve Holland and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three U.S. service members had been killed and dozens could also be wounded after an unmanned aerial drone assault on U.S. forces stationed in northeastern Jordan close to the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and U.S. officers stated on Sunday.
Biden blamed Iran-backed teams for the assault, the primary lethal strike in opposition to U.S. forces for the reason that Israel-Hamas warfare erupted in October and despatched shock waves all through the Center East.
“Whereas we’re nonetheless gathering the info of this assault, we all know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant teams working in Syria and Iraq,” Biden stated in an announcement.
“Have little question – we are going to maintain all these accountable to account at a time and in a way of our selecting,” he stated.
U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin echoed that risk. He and different senior officers briefed Biden earlier within the day on the assault.
At the very least 34 personnel had been evaluated for doable traumatic mind harm, a U.S. official instructed Reuters, talking on situation of anonymity. Two completely different officers stated some wounded U.S. forces had been medically evacuated from the bottom for additional therapy.
Two U.S. officers stated the drone struck close to the barracks early within the morning, which may clarify the excessive variety of casualties.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Iran-backed militant teams, claimed assaults on three bases, together with one on the Jordan-Syria border.
The assault is a serious escalation of the already tense scenario within the Center East, the place warfare broke out in Gaza after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ assault on Israel on Oct. 7 which killed 1,200. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 26,000 Palestinians, in response to the native well being ministry.
Since then, U.S. forces have come below assault greater than 150 instances by Iran-backed teams in Iraq and Syria, inflicting a minimum of 70 casualties previous to Sunday’s assault, most of them traumatic mind accidents. U.S. warships have additionally been fired at by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, who’re often attacking industrial ships passing by means of Purple Sea waters off Yemen’s coast.
Whereas america has to date maintained an official line that Washington is just not at warfare within the area, it has been retaliating in opposition to the Iran-backed teams in Iraq and Syria and finishing up strikes in opposition to Yemen’s Houthi navy capabilities.
BIDEN PRESSURED ON IRAN
Republican opponents of Biden seized on the assault as proof of the Democratic president’s failure to confront Iran as its proxies strike in opposition to U.S. forces throughout the area.
“The one reply to those assaults should be devastating navy retaliation in opposition to Iran’s terrorist forces … Something much less will affirm Joe Biden as a coward,” stated Republican Senator Tom Cotton in an announcement.
U.S. Senate Republican Chief Mitch McConnell stated Biden’s inaction was emboldening enemies of america within the Center East.
“The time to start out taking this aggression severely was lengthy earlier than extra courageous Individuals misplaced their lives,” McConnell stated.
A senior official with the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, immediately tied the assault to Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza.
“The killing of three American troopers is a message to the U.S. administration that except the killing of innocents in Gaza stops, it should confront the complete nation,” he instructed Reuters.
“The continued American-Zionist aggression on Gaza is able to exploding the scenario within the area.”
The U.S. navy stated the assault occurred at a base in northeastern Jordan, close to the Syrian border. It didn’t identify the bottom, however an individual aware of the matter recognized it as Tower 22 in Jordan.
U.S. navy exercise in Jordan is usually a delicate situation, significantly at a time of heightened tensions as a result of Israel-Hamas battle, due to rising concern in Jordan concerning the warfare spreading.
The Jordanian authorities stated solely that the assault occurred at an “superior submit” alongside its border with Syria.
Late final 12 months, Amman requested Washington to deploy Patriot air protection programs to bolster its border protection.
It has requested extra help to deal with drones utilized in a raging multibillion-dollar drug warfare alongside the border with Syria, which Amman blames on pro-Iranian militias who maintain sway in southern Syria.
The dominion has lots of of U.S. trainers within the nation and holds intensive workouts with U.S. troops all year long.