Three US service members have been killed Sunday in Jordan and 25 others have been wounded in what the Biden administration mentioned was a drone assault by an Iran-backed militia, the primary US navy deaths from hostile fireplace after Israel's warfare in Gaza.
The assault occurred at a base in northeastern Jordan close to the Syrian border the place the troops have been based mostly. Different particulars weren’t instantly out there from the Pentagon's Central Command, which issued a naked preliminary assertion on Sunday.
However the deaths of US service members will virtually actually put extra stress on President Biden to reply extra forcefully as unrest grows within the Center East following the October 7 assaults that killed 1200 individuals in Israel.
“Three United States service members have been killed – and lots of injured – throughout an unmanned aerial drone assault on our forces stationed in northeastern Jordan close to the Syrian border,” Mr. Biden mentioned in a press release on Sunday. “Whereas we’re nonetheless gathering the details of this assault, we all know it was carried out by radical militant teams backed by Iran working in Syria and Iraq.”
The drone strike got here as Israel and Hezbollah, one other Iranian ally, exchanged fireplace throughout the Lebanese border. A Houthi militia in Yemen, additionally backed by Iran, has fired missiles and drones at business ships within the Crimson Sea and Gulf of Aden, calling it retaliation for Israel's bombardment of Gaza. The US and its allies have fired again, hanging Yemen a number of occasions.
And final Saturday, at the very least 4 U.S. service members stationed in western Iraq have been injured when their airbase got here beneath heavy rocket and missile fireplace from what U.S. officers mentioned have been backed militias. from Iran. It was the most recent in additional than 150 assaults by Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq towards US troops for the reason that October 7 assaults.
The US has about 2,000 troops stationed at an air base in Azraq, Jordan, in addition to Particular Operations forces, navy trainers and help personnel for the US base in Al Tanf, Syria. American troops are largely to help in regional efforts to take away the remnants of the Islamic State.
In his assertion, Mr. Biden referred to as American troops in Jordan “patriots within the highest sense,” and mentioned they’d “risked their very own security for the protection of their fellow People, and our allies and companions with whom we’re within the struggle. towards terrorism. It’s a struggle that we don’t cease.”
Final Sunday, the Pentagon declared two Navy SEALs lifeless after they disappeared 10 days earlier throughout an operation at sea to intercept weapons from Iran geared toward Houthi fighters.
They have been the primary identified US deaths in Washington's marketing campaign towards the Houthis, who’ve launched dozens of assaults on ships within the Crimson Sea since November, disrupting the worldwide delivery business.
The People killed on Sunday have been the primary identified deaths from hostile fireplace in Yemen, Iraq or within the surrounding areas and waters.
