3 US service members killed, at least 34 injured in drone attack in Jordan by ‘radical Iran-backed militant groups’
Three US service members were killed and 34 others wounded by Iran-backed militants in a drone attack Saturday night in Jordan — prompting President Biden to vow to respond to what were the first deaths of American troops by enemy fire in the Gaza war.
Saturday’s air assault was carried out against a small American outpost in Jordan near the Syrian border and marked the worst attack in the region since four US soldiers were killed by an ISIS bomb in 2019.
Biden on Sunday blasted the attack as “despicable and wholly unjust” — and warned, “We shall respond.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin echoed the president’s warning.
“The President and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our troops and our interests,” he said in a statement.
Biden said in an earlier release from the White House, “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 Iran.
“The three American service members we lost were patriots in the highest sense,” he said. “ We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt — we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing.”
The president later reiterated his vow to retaliate against the terrorists, telling supporters at a campaign rally at a church in South Carolina, “We had a tough day in the Middle East.
“We lost three brave souls,” Biden said.
“We shall respond.”
The White House said Sunday that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “were briefed by their national security team this afternoon on the latest regarding the attack on U.S. service members and coalition partners.
“Participants included National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary Antony Blinken, Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, Chairman CQ Brown, Director Avril Haines, Director Bill Burns, Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, and Chief of Staff Jeff Zients.”
The identity of the slain and injured soldiers will not be released until their families have been notified, US officials said.
No specific group has claimed responsibility for the attack at the base, which is situated near Al Tanf Garrison in southeastern Syria, where US forces worked with allies to fight off 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. Previous such attacks have been shot down by air defense systems.
At least 34 personnel were being treated for possible traumatic brain injury, a US official told Reuters.
The attack comes just a week after four American soldiers were examined for potential traumatic brain injuries from a ballistic missile and rocket attack at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of Iran-backed militia groups opposing US support of Israel in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the Al-Asad attack.
That attack resulted in the US firing retaliatory strikes against the Houthi rebels operating in Yemen, with several of their headquarters, storage facilities and training locations destroyed, according to US Central Command.
Before this past Saturday’s attack in Jordan, there had been more than 158 assaults on US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, .
In the first loss of US life in the conflict, two Navy SEALs died Jan. 11 boarding a ship in the Red Sea that was carrying weapons to the Houthis, American officials said. One the fallen members of the ultra-elite military group slipped climbing up the side of the ship and disappeared into the water, and second SEAL jumped in after after, and both disappeared under the waves, officials said.
The attacks in the area escalated after the US recently reiterated its support for Israel over the Oct. 7 attack that left more than 1,200 people dead.
Two weeks later, 21 US military personnel were confirmed to have suffered minor injuries in the series of drone and rocket attacks on the Al-Asad Airbase.
The most recent attacks come as the Houthi and Hezbollah terrorist groups, Iran-backed forces in Yemen and Lebanon, respectively, have launched strikes against America in the region in a show of solidarity for Hamas in its war against Israel in Gaza.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown appeared in a pre-recorded interview on ABC News on Sunday morning reiterating that America wishes “not to have the conflict [in Gaza] broaden.”
To this end, Brown said the US was committed to subduing the attacks launched by the Iranian proxies.
“The goal is to deter them, and we don’t want to go down a path of greater escalation that drives to a much broader conflict within the region,” he said.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed Jan. 17 that his nation was close to brokering peace in the Red Sea but warned that overall conflict in the region will not end until Israel pulls out of Gaza.
“If the genocide in Gaza stops, then it will lead to the end of other crises and attacks in the region,” Amir-Abdollahian said at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Additional reporting by Ryan King and Post Wires
