The 28 January drone strike against a US military outpost in the extreme northeast corner of Jordan in which three American servicemen were killed and another forty injured is bound to elicit a strong US response. The US has clearly shown that it will not tolerate even non-fatal strikes against its personnel, and US President Joe Biden cannot afford to appear weak in an election year.
The attack, which marked the first US military casualties since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October, was claimed by Iran-backed Iraqi militias acting under the ‘Islamic Resistance in Iraq’ umbrella. By killing Americans, the militias have raised the stakes and crossed a US red line. (CONTINUED - 1916 WORDS)