WASHINGTON: Three US service members have been killed and dozens wounded throughout an unmanned aerial drone assault on US forces stationed in northeastern Jordan close to the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and US officers mentioned on Sunday (Jan 28).
Biden blamed Iran-backed teams for the assault, the primary lethal strike towards US forces since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October, sending 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 mentioned in an announcement.
“Have little question – we’ll maintain all these accountable to account at a time and in a fashion of our selecting,” he mentioned.
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 being evaluated for potential traumatic mind harm, a US official advised Reuters, talking on situation of anonymity. Two totally different officers mentioned some wounded US forces have been medically evacuated from the bottom for additional therapy.
A fourth official mentioned the drone struck close to the barracks, which, if confirmed, 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 battle broke out in Gaza after Palestinian militant group Hamas’ assault on Israel on Oct 7 which killed 1,200 folks. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 26,000 Palestinians, in line with the native well being ministry.
Since then, US forces have come underneath assault greater than 150 occasions 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. US warships have additionally been fired at by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, who’re frequently attacking business ships passing via Purple Sea waters off Yemen’s coast.
Whereas the US has up to now maintained an official line that Washington is just not at battle within the area, it has made strikes towards targets of Yemen’s Houthi teams which were attacking business vessels within the Purple Sea.
