A satellite tv for pc view of the U.S. army outpost generally known as Tower 22, in Rukban, Rwaished District, Jordan, in October final yr.

Planet Labs by way of Reuters

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Planet Labs by way of Reuters

A satellite tv for pc view of the U.S. army outpost generally known as Tower 22, in Rukban, Rwaished District, Jordan, in October final yr.

Planet Labs by way of Reuters

Questions about the potential for a low-level regional warfare within the Middle East are rising after assaults there have escalated previously 24 hours.

On Sunday, an aerial drone strike killed three United States service members and injured at the very least 34 others. The strike occurred at a assist base generally known as Tower 22 in northeast Jordan close to the Syrian border and certain hit a barracks.

“We had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls,” President Biden stated on Monday. “And we shall respond.”

This is the primary deadly assault on U.S. forces within the Middle East since the war in Gaza broke out following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that left some 1,200 individuals lifeless.

U.S. considers response to assault on base in Jordan

An Iran-backed umbrella group of militias referred to as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq stated it was behind the assault, however Iran denied involvement. The group referred to as it revenge for America’s army presence within the area and the Palestinian deaths in Gaza. More than 26,000 individuals have been killed for the reason that starting of Israel’s warfare on Hamas, in line with the well being ministry in Gaza.

There have been about 160 assaults on U.S. bases within the area for the reason that Gaza warfare broke out, in line with the Pentagon.

“There will be a response” to Sunday’s assault, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, instructed NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Monday, and will probably be “calibrated to hopefully have a better effect on the decision-making of these groups.”

“We’re going to take the right time to make the appropriate response decisions in the wake of this attack,” he stated. “The president has taken this very seriously.”

President Biden met on Monday with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and others, together with his Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, to debate the rising threats.

Other strikes in Syria and the Gulf of Aden

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that the Syrian army stated that Israeli strikes exterior the capital Damascus on Monday killed and wounded a number of individuals.

Syrian state media stated that among the many lifeless have been “a number of Iranian advisers,” Reuters reported. Israel declined to touch upon the strikes.

The AP additionally reported on Monday that Yemen’s Houthi rebels stated they attacked a U.S. Navy cellular base within the Gulf of Aden. The declare was denied by the U.S.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have been attacking worldwide cargo ships within the Red Sea with drones and missiles since November. They have stated it’s a response to Israel’s warfare in Gaza. The U.S has responded with its own strikes.

Kirby described Sunday’s assault in Jordan as “escalatory” however insisted that the U.S. was not, nonetheless, speaking concerning the newest spike in violence as a regional warfare.

“We do not want to see a wider conflict,” Kirby stated. “In fact, everything the president has done since the seventh of October has really been designed to try to de-escalate, to try to prevent a wider conflict. … We are not looking for a war with Iran.”

Nevertheless, an knowledgeable on the area instructed NPR Monday that the U.S. already seems to be swept up in a low-grade warfare.

“There have been some backchannel communications between Washington and Tehran to say they don’t want the war that has been playing out since Oct. 7 between Israel and Gaza to expand,” Robin Wright, a distinguished fellow on the Wilson Center, told Morning Edition‘s Inskeep.

“But frankly, I think we’ve crossed that threshold now,” she stated. “The danger is that you see the Americans going in to try to prevent a wider war, to contain the violence, and instead only providing more targets.”