This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a military base known as Tower 22 in northeastern Jordan, on Oct. 12, 2023. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
Three U.S. service members were killed in Jordan on Sunday and at least 34 others were injured which was a drone attack from an Iran-backed militia, the first American military fatalities from hostile fire in the turmoil spilling over from Israel’s war with Hamas, President Biden administration said.
The report said that the attack happened at a remote logistics outpost in northeast Jordan called Tower 22 where the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan converge. The one-way attack drone hit near the outpost’s living quarters, causing injuries that ranged from minor cuts to brain trauma, a U.S. military official said.
But the deaths of U.S. service members, most of whom were military reservists, will almost certainly increase pressure on President Biden to retaliate more forcefully as strife grows in the Middle East after the Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people in Israel.
“Three U.S. service members were killed — and many wounded — during an unmanned aerial drone attack on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Sunday. “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.”
President Biden who was speaking later in Columbia, S.C., said “We lost three brave souls.” The president then led a moment of silence, before adding, “We shall respond.”
The Pentagon failed to identify the service members who died or their units pending notification of family members.
In a statement, the Iran-backed militias who call themselves the Axis of Resistance claimed responsibility for the attack on the base in a remote desert area of Jordan, saying it was a “continuation of our approach to resisting the American occupation forces in Iraq and the region.”
白宮稱，駐約旦美軍遭無人機攻擊，造成 3 人死亡、多人受傷
拜登總統稱，週日，伊朗支持的民兵組織發動無人機襲擊，造成三名美國軍人在約旦喪生，另有至少34 人受傷，這是以色列與哈馬斯戰爭引發的動亂中首例美國軍人因敵對火力而死亡。政府表示。
報告稱，攻擊發生在約旦東北部一個名為Tower 22的偏遠後勤哨所，這裡是敘利亞、伊拉克和約旦邊境的交匯處。 一名美國軍方官員表示，這架單向攻擊無人機襲擊了前哨基地的居住區附近，造成輕至輕微割傷，重至腦外傷的傷害。
但隨著 10 月 7 日導致以色列 1,200 人死亡的襲擊事件導致中東衝突加劇，美國軍人（其中大多數是預備役軍人）的死亡幾乎肯定會增加拜登總統採取更強有力報復的壓力。
拜登在周日的一份聲明中表示， “我們駐紮在約旦東北部靠近敘利亞邊境的部隊遭到無人機襲擊，造成三名美國軍人死亡，多人受傷。” “雖然我們仍在收集這次襲擊的事實，但我們知道這是由伊朗支持的在敘利亞和伊拉克活動的激進武裝組織實施的。”
拜登總統隨後在南卡羅來納州哥倫比亞發表講話，他說：“我們失去了三個勇敢的靈魂。” 總統隨後默哀了一會兒，然後補充道，“我們將做出回應。”
在通知家屬之前，五角大廈未能確認死亡軍人或其所屬部隊的身份。
在一份聲明中，自稱「抵抗軸心」的伊朗支持的民兵聲稱對約旦偏遠沙漠地區基地的襲擊負責，稱這是「我們抵抗美國在伊拉克和以色列佔領軍的做法的延續」。該地區。 」
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