What will the USA do after the attack in Jordan against American soldiers?
A drone hit the Tower 22 logistics base in Jordan, which hosts 350 American soldiers: 3 dead and 32 injured. Facts and context
The USA had not suffered an air attack since the very distant days of the Korean War. But it happened yesterday, when a drone hit the logistics base called Tower 22 in eastern Jordan which hosts 350 American soldiers and which has a support role for the much more important outpost of al Tanf, inside Syria, already hit with two drones in October.
In the attack claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia fighting against the American military presence in the country but which is also linked to the broader front that mobilized after 7 October in support of the Palestinian brothers and which also includes Houthis and Hezbollah, three US soldiers died, while 32 others were injured: eight had to be evacuated. Of the 160 attacks carried out after 7 October against US targets by pro-Iranian militias active in Iraq and Syria, this is the first with a lethal outcome, but there are already around seventy American soldiers who have suffered more or less serious wounds mostly more for brain trauma.
THE US-JORDAN PACT
An unfortunate event, therefore, that of yesterday, which takes place in a country so far spared from the fire, Jordan, which has an iron pact with America made up of continuous military assistance and which, not surprisingly, yesterday denied that its territory had been involved. Tower 22 and Tanf are located a few kilometers away in that area between Syria, Iraq and Jordan where US forces are still hunting what remains of ISIS in a territory which however falls within that Shiite Crescent that Tehran it wants to control with its loyal militias and with the direct presence of the Pasdaran to ensure geographical continuity from Beirut to Baghdad to its ambitions of domination.
THE ROLE OF IRAN
Do the Iraqi Shiite militias that recognize the Islamic Republic's role as not only a spiritual guide, sharing its anti-American agenda, respond to Tehran's orders or not? They have certainly always been a thorn in the side of a Baghdad government which has to deal, on the other hand, with that internal jihadist enemy which still requires the presence of American contingents and trainers to tame. The joint military commission called upon to resolve the issue of a US presence of 2,500 men strong and considered unwanted but whose definitive exit would mark a strategic victory for Iran and for its vision of a Middle East completely hostile to Iran will soon meet. 'West, a catastrophe.
WHAT WILL THE UNITED STATES DO?
Yesterday's attack fits into this background, which also explains the difficulty Washington now finds itself in: if it reacts massively by striking the militias in Iraqi territory it would put the same government in difficulty which had not yet kicked out the Americans themselves as many have been calling for years. This time, however, on that base in not far away Jordan, in that no man's land where drug and weapons trafficking merges with the ongoing geopolitical struggle, three American soldiers died, and Biden must respond.
All Republicans urge him to do so and also accuse him of chronic weakness. They even ask to finally strike within Iranian borders, and it would be the first time since that failed 1980 mission ordered by Carter to free the hostages from the occupied Tehran embassy in that very famous crisis which marked the beginning of the eternal dispute between Washington and the ayatollah.
We will strike – the head of the White House said yesterday when announcing the death of the three soldiers to the nation – in a moment "of our choosing". Maybe a matter of hours.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/giordania-tre-soldati-americani-uccisi/ on Mon, 29 Jan 2024 10:01:11 +0000.