Washington- The killing of 3 American soldiers, yesterday, Sunday, at a military base in Jordan, raised the total American military losses in the region since the start of the operation. Al-Aqsa flood On October 7 to five people, as the US Navy had previously lost two soldiers during an operation to seize weapons smuggled into Yemen.

The most prominent attack on the American base in the northeast JordanThe American goal of not expanding the scope of the war on Gaza geographically failed.

The president's administration tightens joe biden Since October 7, it has been keen to do everything in its power to prevent the expansion of the ongoing war on Gaza stripTo do this, Biden sent two aircraft carriers.Gerald Ford“Dwight Eisenhower” to the eastern Mediterranean, in addition to the deployment of more than 20 naval vessels, and the strengthening of air force squadrons in the Middle East, with the aim of deterring any parties thinking of interfering.

However, the increase in the American military presence in the region did not contribute to increasing the stability of the region away from the Gaza Strip arena. On the contrary, it contributed to increasing tension, especially after it decided Houthi group Which governs parts of Yemen to obstruct maritime navigation heading to Israel until the aggression against Gaza is stopped. This prompted American military intervention and the recent launching of air attacks on Houthi military targets inside Yemen.

Not the first attack

Iraqi factions calling themselves the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” an alliance of Iranian-backed armed groups, claimed responsibility for the attack; It wasn't surprising. The factions described the attack as retaliation for the American military presence in the region and for the number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza. More than 25 thousand people have been martyred so far.

It is worth noting that American bases inside Iraq and Syria have been subjected to more than 151 attacks since last October 19, and Washington did not respond with counterattacks to all of these attacks. Washington argued that its response was a message of “unwillingness to escalate.”

A number of experts who Al Jazeera Net spoke to believe that there is a silent understanding and awareness of the red lines between Washington AndTehran (and its affiliated armed groups), in the arena of confrontation between them in Iraq and Syria.

The real reason behind launching the attack inside Jordan specifically is not yet known, an attack that President Biden, in an election year, does not have the luxury of ignoring or not responding to militarily.

Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East Program at the Quincy Institute in Washington, believes that it has always been clear that the presence of scattered American forces in Iraq and Syria poses a risk of dragging the United States into a larger conflict in such an unpredictable region.

He added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, “For this reason, I have always advocated rethinking the American military position in Iraq, since I called for exploring how Washington could conduct a gradual withdrawal of forces and reassess the goals of this presence, especially with the increasing risks of provoking a broader conflict, whether intentionally or Unintentionally”.

Surprising the attack site

For his part, David De Roche, former official BPentagon The lecturer at the National Defense College in Washington told Al Jazeera Net about his surprise that the attack occurred inside Jordanian territory. Des Roches said it was very likely that the drone that attacked forces in Jordan was directed at a target in Syria and missed.

He added: “Given that Iran prefers to operate through a network of proxies that do not generally restrict their activities, it should not surprise us that they would attack American forces in a previously neutral country.”

He considered, “The only thing that did not surprise me was that Iranian agents were finally able to kill Americans. American forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked more than 170 times by Iranian agents in the past few months, and it was inevitable that they would be lucky and penetrate American defenses sooner or later.” “.

For his part, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Charles Dunn, former official BWhite House The US State Department, and currently an expert at the Arab Institute in Washington, said: “The attack is somewhat surprising, given that Jordan has not yet been the subject of attacks by militias allied with Iran in Syria or Iraq. This latest attack expands the circle of countries directly affected by the fighting or participation.” “It deepens the risk of a broader conflict, with the United States directly involved on multiple fronts.”

Two ways to respond

Des Roches indicated that the Biden administration must respond strongly to this attack, and he told Al Jazeera Net: “Biden has two ways to do this. The first is by expanding their list of targets in Syria. In the past, the vast majority of American retaliatory strikes were directed against buildings or weapons depots. I think the list of targets may now expand to include militia leadership, and perhaps individuals Revolutionary Guards Iranians who provide the militias with weapons, intelligence, training and operational guidance.”

The second way, according to the American military expert, is to escalate horizontally, that is, directing attacks against Iranian forces and their agents outside Iraq and Syria. This could include Iranian intelligence ships operating in the Arabian Sea.

Regarding the nature of Biden’s response, former White House official Charles Dunn said: “I expect the administration, which blamed the attack on Iranian-backed militias operating from Syria or Iraq, to ​​respond quickly and directly with strikes against militia targets and even Iranian facilities in the two countries.” “.

The former president argued Donald Trump That President Biden's “weakness and surrender” is responsible for the deadly drone attack in Jordan that killed 3 US military personnel.

Trump said in a post on his website, Truth Social: “This attack would never have happened if I were president, just as the Iranian-backed Hamas attack on Israel would never have happened, and the war in Ukraine would never have happened, and we would have peace by now.” “All over the world. Instead, we are on the brink of World War III.”