International Desk, Bangladesh Global: It was almost inevitable that American troops would be killed. Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, in response to the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October, US bases in Iraq and Syria have been attacked more than 150 times, according to US officials.
President Biden has accused “radical Iran-backed militant groups” in Syria and Iraq for the latest attack, which killed three US servicemen in a base near the Jordan-Syria border, and vowed to respond.
The attention is now on how this response is going to look like. So far, American forces have carried out limited retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria, which have been unable to stop the attacks.
This dramatic development shows how violence has spread across the Middle East amid the war in Gaza.
Apart from the attacks in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen have targeted commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, leading to retaliatory strikes by the US, the UK and other countries.
Here in Lebanon, Hezbollah has attacked positions in northern Israel almost every day. All these players are supported by Iran, part of it calls the "Axis of Resistance".
Iran said it was not involved in the attack in Jordan. President Biden, meanwhile, will face pressure to give a strong reaction, and some of his Republican critics are already calling for strikes in Iran itself.
"Hit Iran now. Hit them hard," Senator Lindsey Graham said. This is unlikely, as the White House has been trying to prevent a wider conflict in the region. A large military reaction, which could have unpredictable consequences, is something President Biden wants to avoid at all costs.
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