According to the media, US President Joe Biden has charged extremists with Iranian support with masterminding the attack in Jordan that claimed the lives of three US soldiers and injured numerous others.
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Biden claimed that a drone strike on US soldiers positioned in northeastern Jordan, close to the Syrian border, resulted in the deaths of three US service men and “many” injuries.
“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” he said in a statement.
“We shall uphold their resolve to combat terrorism. And rest assured, on January 28, “We will hold everyone accountable at a time and in a way that suits us,” Biden stated.
He continued by saying that the attack happened late on January 27. He did not state how many people were hurt in the event, but later on, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty claimed that a US official stated at least 34 troops were being assessed for traumatic brain injuries.
The “only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces… Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward,” stated Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican who has been a vociferous opponent of Biden.
Jordan stated that it was working with the US to strengthen its border defenses and denounced what it described as a “terrorist attack” on a military location.
A government spokesman in Amman had earlier asserted that the incident happened on a US facility in Syria, directly across the border, rather than on Jordanian territory.
Although the attack’s specifics were not immediately confirmed, sources indicated that it took place at Tower 22, which is home to a US military base located in Jordan near the Syrian border.
The US maintains a tight allyship with Jordan in the Middle East, where the Pentagon stationed about 3,000 troops, frequently to support operations in Syria.
In recent years, US forces have been fighting the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria along with other enemies.
If the incident is indeed in Jordan, it would be the first time that US forces have been targeted there since Israel began its war in Gaza with Hamas, an organization that both the US and the EU have designated as terrorist.
Fears of a broader Middle East warfare have been voiced by numerous analysts since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked a war in Gaza.
Local leaders claim that after at least 1,200 individuals were killed in those attacks, Israel retaliated by killing over 26,000 Palestinians.
US military have come under attack from Islamist organizations in the Middle East as a result of their support for Israel. These groups include militias in Iraq who receive backing from Tehran as well as Huthi rebels in Yemen who are backed by Iran.
