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U.S. troops’ killing in Jordan raises fears of wider war in the Middle East
Questions about the possibility of a low-level regional war in the Middle East are rising after attacks there have escalated in the past 24 hours.
On Sunday, an aerial drone strike killed three United States service members and injured at least 34 others. The strike happened at a support base known as Tower 22 in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border and likely hit a barracks.
“We had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls,” President Biden said on Monday. And we shall respond.”
This is the first fatal attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East since the war in Gaza broke out following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that left some 1,200 people dead, according to agency reports.
U.S. considers response to attack on base in Jordan
An Iran-backed umbrella group of militias called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it was behind the attack, but Iran denied involvement. The group called it revenge for America’s military presence in the region and the Palestinian deaths in Gaza. More than 26,000 people have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s war on Hamas, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
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There have been about 160 attacks on U.S. bases in the region since the Gaza war broke out, according to the Pentagon.
“There will be a response” to Sunday’s attack, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Monday, and it will be “calibrated to hopefully have a better effect on the decision-making of these groups.”
“We’re going to take the right time to make the appropriate response decisions in the wake of this attack,” he said. “The president has taken this very seriously.”
President Biden met on Monday with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and others, including his Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, to discuss the growing threats.