Three US service members were killed and 25 others wounded in a drone strike Saturday night in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border – a major escalation in already dangerous Middle East tensions.
The airstrike was carried out on a small American outpost in Jordan and marked the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since conflict erupted in the region following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by an Iran-backed radical militant group operating in Syria and Iran,” President Biden said in a statement – adding that soldiers were killed by a “heinous and completely unjustified attack.
“The three American service members we lost were patriots in the highest sense,” Biden said. “We will continue their commitment to fight terrorism. And do not doubt – we will be responsible for all of them at one time and in another way [of] our choice.”
The identities of the killed and wounded soldiers will not be released until their families have been notified, US officials said.
The attack took place in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border. Google Earth Three US service members were killed following a drone strike on Saturday night in northeastern Jordan. AP
No specific group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the base, which is located near the Al Tanf Garrison in southeastern Syria, where US troops are working with allies to fight Islamic State militants.
It remains unclear how the unmanned drone launched at the American base, known as Tower 22, was able to hit the US base. Previously such attacks had been shot down by air defense systems.
At least 34 personnel were also treated for possible traumatic brain injuries, a US official told Reuters.
The attack came just a week after four American soldiers were examined for potential traumatic brain injuries from a ballistic missile and rocket attack at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq.
President Biden called the slain soldiers “patriots in the highest sense.” AP
Before Saturday’s attack in Jordan, there had been more than 158 attacks on US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, CNN reported.
The attack came as the Houthi terrorist group and Hezbollah, Iran-backed forces in Yemen and Lebanon, respectively launched attacks against America in the region in a show of solidarity for Hamas in its war against Israel in Gaza.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown appeared in a pre-recorded interview on ABC News on Sunday morning reiterating that America wants to “have no conflict [in Gaza] expand.”
Biden said the attack was carried out by militants backed by Iran. AP
To this end, Brown said the US is committed to subduing attacks launched by Iranian proxies.
“The goal is to stop them, and we don’t want to go down a path of greater escalation that leads to a wider conflict in the region,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed on January 17 that his country was close to brokering peace in the Red Sea but warned that the overall conflict in the region would not end until Israel withdrew from Gaza.
“If the massacre in Gaza stops, then it will lead to the end of other crises and attacks in the region,” said Amir-Abdollahian at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
