UPDATES WITH VICE PRESIDENT STATEMENT, INFO ON SENATORS’ REACTION; REVISES DECK
By Rania Abu Shamala
ISTANBUL (AA) – Three US service members were killed and 28 injured this weekend in an attack on the Al-Tanf US military base near the Jordanian-Syrian border, American and Jordanian officials said Sunday.
“On Jan. 28, three US service members were killed and 25 injured from a one-way attack UAS (drone) that impacted at a base in northeast Jordan, near the Syria border,” the US Central Command said in a press release.
In a statement from the White House, US President Joe Biden said: “Today, America’s heart is heavy. Last night, 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.”
“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,” he added.
Mohannad Mubaydeen, spokesperson for the Jordanian government, said “the attack targeting US forces near the Syrian border did not take place within Jordan” but instead “targeted Al-Tanf base in Syria.”
In response to the attack, US Vice President Kamala Harris said on X: “As President Biden has made clear, we will continue to fight terrorism, and we will hold all those responsible to account.”
A number of US senators also took the opportunity to criticize Biden's policy on Iran, urging him to respond to its “terrorist forces,” both in Iran and across the Middle East.
The attack is considered as one of the deadliest recent attacks on American troops in the Middle East.
Later Sunday, an Iraqi group calling itself Islamic Resistance said that it was responsible for the attack.
Al-Tanf, a base located within Syrian territory outside of regime control where the Syrian, Iraqi, and Jordanian borders meet, houses a number of American troops.
The base had previously come under attack on Jan. 4, with unidentified drones intercepted by US forces before reaching the base.