Biden vows US 'shall respond' after troops killed in Jordan

Following a drone strike on a Jordanian facility on Sunday that claimed the lives of three US soldiers and injured over thirty more, President Joe Biden blamed insurgents supported by Iran and promised to bring those responsible accountable. “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 said in a statement, pledging to hold “all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.” Later in the day at a South Carolina church banquet hall, the president held a moment of silence for the US troops killed in the attack, then said: “We shall respond.” ‘Regional explosion’ Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack “a message to the American administration that unless the killing of innocent people in Gaza stops, it may be faced with the entire nation.” “The continuation of the American-Zionist aggression on Gaza risks a regional explosion,” Abu Zuhri said. There are around 350 US Army and Air Force personnel at the base who conduct “a number of key support functions,” including for the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group, CENTCOM said. Jordan’s government spokesman Muhannad Mubaidin, after initially claiming the attack took place in neighboring Syria, later said it “targeted an advanced position on the border with Syria.” Mubaidin condemned the attack, as did Bahrain, Egypt and Britain, whose Foreign Secretary David Cameron called on Iran to “de-escalate in the region.” Growing Middle East crisis The escalating Middle East conflict poses a challenge to Biden in an election year, with various Republican politicians quick to take aim at the president over the deadly attack, including his predecessor Donald Trump, who described the situation as a “consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender.” US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in more than 150 attacks since mid-October, according to the Pentagon, and Washington has carried out retaliatory strikes in both countries. The growing violence in multiple parts of the Middle East has raised fears of a broader regional conflict directly involving Iran – a worst-case scenario that Washington is desperately seeking to avoid.