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Three US service members have been killed and dozens could also be wounded after an unmanned aerial drone assault on US forces stationed in northeastern Jordan close to the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and US officers stated on Sunday.
Biden blamed Iran-backed teams for the assault, the primary lethal strike towards US 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 information 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 doubt – we are going to maintain all these accountable to account at a time and in a way of our selecting,” he stated.
Biden later requested for a second of silence for the three killed service members throughout a marketing campaign occasion in South Carolina, including, “We will reply.”
US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin echoed that menace. He and different senior officers briefed Biden earlier within the day on the assault.
A minimum of 34 personnel have been injured within the assault, however that quantity is predicted to vary as extra individuals search care, in keeping with an announcement from US Central Command. Eight personnel have been evacuated from Jordan for larger degree care, however are in secure situation.
Two US 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 state of affairs 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 keeping with the native well being ministry.
Since then, US forces have come beneath assault greater than 150 instances by Iran-backed teams in Iraq and Syria, inflicting not less than 70 casualties previous to Sunday’s assault, most of them traumatic mind accidents. US warships have additionally been fired at by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, who’re often attacking business ships passing by means of Crimson Sea waters off Yemen’s coast.
Whereas the USA has to date maintained an official line that Washington isn’t at warfare within the area, it has been retaliating towards the Iran-backed teams in Iraq and Syria and finishing up strikes towards Yemen’s Houthi army 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 towards US forces throughout the area.
“The one reply to those assaults have to be devastating army retaliation towards Iran’s terrorist forces … Something much less will verify Joe Biden as a coward,” stated Republican Senator Tom Cotton in an announcement.
US Senate Republican Chief Mitch McConnell stated Biden’s inaction was emboldening enemies of the USA within the Center East.
“The time to begin taking this aggression significantly 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, straight tied the assault to Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza.
“The killing of three American troopers is a message to the US administrati
on that except the killing of innocents in Gaza stops, it should confront all the nation,” he informed Reuters.
“The continued American-Zionist aggression on Gaza is able to exploding the state of affairs within the area.”
The US army stated the assault occurred at a base in northeastern Jordan, close to the Syrian border. It didn’t title the bottom, however an individual aware of the matter recognized it as Tower 22 in Jordan.
US army exercise in Jordan generally is a delicate problem, notably at a time of heightened tensions because of the Israel-Hamas battle, due to growing concern in Jordan in regards to 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 techniques to bolster its border protection.
It has requested extra assist to sort out 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 tons of of U.S. trainers within the nation and holds in depth workout routines with US troops all year long.
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