© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at South Carolina’s First within the Nation Dinner on the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S., January 27, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Picture
By Kanishka Singh and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three U.S. service members had 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.
“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 Iraq,” Biden mentioned in a press release.
A minimum of 34 personnel had been being evaluated for attainable traumatic mind damage, a U.S. official informed Reuters.
“While we’re still gathering facts, this is most assuredly the work of an Iranian-backed militia group,” a second official mentioned.
The deaths marked the primary fatalities of U.S. troops within the area since struggle started in Gaza. Biden mentioned the assault occurred on Saturday evening.
The assault is a serious escalation of the already tense scenario within the Center East, the place struggle 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 accordance with the native well being ministry.
Whereas the US has to date maintained an official line that Washington just isn’t at struggle within the area, it has made strikes towards targets of Yemen’s Houthi teams which have been attacking industrial vessels within the Pink Sea.
“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,” Biden mentioned in his assertion launched by the White Home.