As the number of attacks on deployed US personnel rose to more than 160, the Pentagon carried out selective retaliatory strikes against Iranian proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. But what frustrated many in Washington was that these measures failed to deter the perpetrators of violence, and the president's critics took advantage of this development to intensify their demands for more aggressive countermeasures.
The latest attack targeted a facility known as Tower 22 in northeastern Jordan along the country's shared borders with Syria and Iraq. A defense official said the one-way drone struck the base's living quarters, causing injuries ranging from cuts, bruises and brain trauma.
The official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the incident, said it was not immediately clear from which country the attack was launched. Military commanders are working to determine this information and why air defenses failed to intercept the drone.
The official said some of the injured individuals required medical evacuation. The names of the dead have not been revealed, pending notification of their families. In his statement, Biden described them as “patriots in the highest sense.”
Sunday's bloodshed highlighted Jordan's attempt to walk a fragile line as many in the Arab world, angered by Israel's punitive attack on Gaza, criticized the United States for supporting the Jewish state despite the war's massive human toll. The kingdom has quietly partnered with the United States in the fight against terrorism while looking to avoid the wrath of Iran and other regional neighbors, and on Sunday Jordanian officials claimed the attack targeted another American base on the Syrian side of the border.
The defense official said that American forces in Tower 22 are carrying out an advice and assistance mission.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group that includes Kataib Hezbollah, Al-Nujaba and other Iranian-backed militants, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a senior official in the group who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity in line with rules set by the group.
As we said before, if the United States continues to support Israel, there will be escalation. The official of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said: “All American interests in the region are legitimate goals and we do not care about American threats to respond. We know the direction we are heading in and martyrdom is our reward.”
The group is considered a front for Iranian-backed militias there. Its forces began targeting American interests in 2018, after then-US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the historic nuclear agreement with Tehran.
Iran hawks in Congress exploited the deadly attack to amplify their criticism of Biden and his administration's handling of the spillover of violence that has put much of the Middle East on the brink.
In a statement, Senator Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) said the president's strategy to deter escalation “has failed miserably.” He called on the administration to retaliate by striking “targets of significance inside Iran” — a prospect that many national security experts fear could drag the United States into a disastrous war.
“The only thing the Iranian regime understands is power,” Graham said. Until they pay the price for their infrastructure and personnel, attacks on American forces will continue.”
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On January 4, the Biden administration launched a rare retaliatory strike on a base belonging to the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba militia in central Baghdad. Officials said at the time that they hoped the strike would serve as a deterrent against further attacks on American forces. Instead, attacks on American personnel have become more ambitious.
Five American soldiers have been killed since the spread of violence in the Middle East with the Israeli invasion of Gaza in October. Two US Navy SEALs were killed in an incident earlier this month while on a mission to intercept Iranian weapons components heading to Yemen. While trying to board a boat suspected of carrying Iranian-made weapons, one of them slipped and fell from a ladder and the other jumped into the heavy waves to help, officials said. Their deaths were announced days later after an extensive search mission.
Missy Ryan and Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and Louisa Lovelock in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
