The United States announced on Monday “consequential” retaliation after a drone strike in Jordan attributed to pro-Iran groups which cost the lives of three American soldiers, Tehran denying any involvement in the attack which occurred in a regional context already explosive.
President Joe Biden will respond “in a very consistent manner,” John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said on CNN, while assuring that the United States was not “seeking war with Iran” or “wider conflict in the Middle East”.
The US president met with senior officials on Monday to discuss the situation, including Jake Sullivan, his National Security Advisor, Brett McGurk, his Middle East advisor and his Defense Minister LLoyd Austin.
“Have no doubt: we will hold all those responsible accountable, when and how we want,” he warned the day before, accusing groups “supported by Iran” of being behind the strike.
The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a nebula of fighters from pro-Iran armed groups, claimed responsibility for attacks carried out “with drones” on Sunday against three bases in Syrian territory hosting American soldiers, notably naming the sectors of Al-Tanf and Rukban, near the border with Jordan.
It is immediately difficult to determine whether one of these strikes was indeed the one that killed three American soldiers and injured 34 in northeastern Jordan.
“Terrorist” attack, according to Amman
These are the first deaths of American soldiers in an attack since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7. They raise fears of escalation in the region while fighting rages in the Gaza Strip shelled by Israel.
Jordan condemned a “terrorist” attack and Saudi Arabia on Monday renewed its “unwavering support for intensifying international efforts” against “extremism”.
The strike hit “Tower 22”, a logistics base in Jordanian territory, located just opposite the Rukban area, in Syrian territory, according to the American army. This position is home to 350 members of the US Army and Air Force, who provide support missions.
Since mid-October, pro-Iran armed groups have fired rockets and used drones against the troops of Washington and the international anti-jihadist coalition, who have suffered more than 165 attacks, a direct repercussion of the war in Gaza between Israel, ally from Washington, and Palestinian Hamas, supported by Tehran.
Tehran “has no link and has nothing to do with the attack on the American base,” responded Iran’s permanent representation to the UN.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it did not want “the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East”, according to its spokesperson Nasser Kanani, assuring that Iran was not involved in the decisions of “resistance groups on the how they support the Palestinian nation.
“Spiral of violence”
Most attacks on American soldiers have been claimed by the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq.” The group says it acted on Sunday to “resist” American forces in Iraq and the region and “in response to the massacres” in the Gaza Strip.
For its part, the Iraqi armed group Al-Noujaba, which says it participates in the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” called on Monday the United States “to learn its lesson and leave (…). For every day that passes, they will pay a heavy price.”
According to an American official, a base of the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States in Shaddadi, in northeastern Syria, was targeted by “multiple rockets”, which caused no casualties or damage.
In the far east of Syria, “groups of pro-Iran fighters evacuated 12 positions” in the regions of Boukamal and al-Mayadine, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Monday .
Transfers motivated by “fear of an American response” after the death of the three soldiers, according to this source.
In retaliation for attacks on its personnel, Washington had already carried out several strikes in Iraq against fighters from pro-Iran armed groups.
Just like in Yemen where bombings targeted positions of the Houthi rebels, who target international maritime traffic off the coast of Yemen.
Baghdad on Monday condemned the deadly attack against American soldiers in Jordan, while calling for “stopping the spiral of violence” in the Middle East.
The attack was also condemned by Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, France and the United Kingdom, whose head of diplomacy, David Cameron, called on Iran for “de-escalation in the region”.
