US President Joe Biden said he has decided how to respond to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers, an episode that may potentially further escalate the tension in the Middle East.
Without elaborating his remark, the President was quoted as saying by BBC: “I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East.”
“I do hold them [Iran] responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” he said.
Meanwhile, an Iran-backed militia group that the US blamed for the attack has said it suspended anti-US operations.
The Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah have suspended their operations against the US occupation forces in Syria and Iraq, the group’s Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said as quoted by Mehr News Agency.
Reacting to the developments, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters: “The President has said, we will. We are going to respond. And we are going to do it really in a way and a time of our own choosing. And, you know, that’s no different — that’s not a different approach than we’ve taken in the past.”
“We know for a fact that Iran and the IRGC provide these groups weapons and capabilities. We know for a fact that they have provided them drones in the past as well. But as for the exact drone that was — that was involved in this attack, again, DOD is still working through the forensics on it,” he said.
Three US troops were killed in an unmanned drone attack in Jordan
At least three US service members were killed in a drone attack on a US base near Jordan’s border with Syria on Sunday (January 28, 2024), US Central Command confirmed.
“As an update to the earlier announcement, the number of U.S. personnel with injuries has increased to at least 34 service members, but we expect this number to fluctuate as service members continue to seek follow-on care,” read a statement issued by the US Central Command.
“Eight personnel that received injuries required evacuation from Jordan to higher level care, but they are in stable condition. All other service members are being fully evaluated for follow-on care,” the statement said.
This is the first time that US army personnel were killed in a strike in the region since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
The war started after Hamas members targeted Israel.
Officials earlier told the BBC that US sites in Iraq and Syria had been attacked at least 165 times since October 17.
Red Sea and Houthi
The US in recent times carried out a series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen to ensure disrupting the rebel group’s ability to target international shipping lanes.
The Houthis earlier said they were targeting Israeli-owned ships on the Red Sea.
US-led naval forces have so far thwarted several such attacks.
Who are the Houthis?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica website, the Houthi movement is an Islamic fundamentalist movement in northern Yemen and one of the main actors in the Yemeni Civil War (2014– ). The network grew out of a revivalist movement among Zaydī Muslims, who belong to a small sect of Shiʿi Islam centered in northern Yemen
