By Phil Stewart, Steve Holland and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three U.S. service members have been killed and dozens wounded throughout an unmanned aerial drone assault on U.S. forces stationed in northeastern Jordan close to the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and U.S. officers mentioned on Sunday.
Biden blamed Iran-backed teams for the assault, the primary lethal strike in opposition to U.S. forces because the Israel-Hamas battle erupted in October, sending shock waves all through the Center East.
“Whereas we’re nonetheless gathering the info 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.
Not less than 34 personnel have been being evaluated for doable traumatic mind damage, a U.S. official instructed Reuters, talking on situation of anonymity. Two completely different officers mentioned some wounded U.S. forces have been medically evacuated from the bottom for additional remedy.
A fourth official mentioned the drone struck close to the barracks, which, if confirmed, may clarify the excessive variety of casualties.
The assault is a serious escalation of the already tense scenario within the Center East, the place battle broke out in Gaza after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ assault on Israel on Oct. 7 which killed 1,200. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 26,000 Palestinians, in response to the native well being ministry.
Whereas the USA has to this point maintained an official line that Washington is just not at battle within the area, it has made strikes in opposition to targets of Yemen’s Houthi teams which were attacking business vessels within the Crimson Sea.
“We’ll keep on their dedication to battle terrorism. And have little question – we are going to maintain all these accountable to account at a time and in a fashion of our selecting,” Biden mentioned in his assertion launched by the White Home.
A senior official with the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, immediately tied the assault to Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza.
“The killing of three American troopers is a message to the U.S. administration that except the killing of innocents in Gaza stops, it should confront the whole nation,” he instructed Reuters.
“The continued American-Zionist aggression on Gaza is able to exploding the scenario within the area.”
The U.S. army mentioned the assault occurred at a base in northeastern Jordan, close to the Syrian border. It didn’t identify the bottom. U.S. army exercise in Jordan could be a delicate challenge, notably at a time of heightened tensions of the Israel-Hamas battle.
A Jordanian authorities spokesman instructed state TV that the militants focused a distinct base, outdoors Jordanian territory.
Washington has given Jordan round $1 billion to bolster border safety since Syria’s civil battle started in 2011, and has lately despatched extra army help to that finish, Western intelligence sources say.
It’s unclear which Iran-backed group could have carried out the assault however a number of U.S. officers mentioned they didn’t imagine that Iranian army forces themselves launched the one-way assault drone.
“Whereas we’re nonetheless gathering info, that is most assuredly the work of an Iranian-backed militia group,” a second official mentioned.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Steve Holland, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington, Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman, and Nida Al Mughrabi in DohaEditing by Heather Timmons and Matthew Lewis)
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