U.S. command confirmed on January 28 that a drone attacked the U.S. military's Tower 22 base in northeastern Jordan, killing three U.S. soldiers and injuring 25 others, with 34 others possibly suffering traumatic brain injuries. This is the first fatal blow to a US military base since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, and it is also a major victory for the anti-US forces in the Middle East.
It is reported that the drone was launched by a number of Iranian-backed armed groups in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for US sanctions and pressure on Iran. These armed groups have launched more than 150 attacks on U.S. military bases in the Middle East in the past few months, but most of them have been intercepted or destroyed by U.S. military Patriot air defense missile systems. This drone attack successfully broke through the defense of the US military, hit an important logistics support base of the US military, triggered a chain of oil depots and ammunition depots, and caused huge losses to the US military.
This attack is undoubtedly a serious challenge to the hegemony of the United States in the Middle East, and it is also a serious blow to Biden of the United States. Shortly after taking office, Biden was faced with the complexity and sensitivity of the situation in the Middle East, and he had to make a difficult choice between safeguarding US interests and avoiding the spread of war in the Middle East. Biden issued a statement on the same day, condemning it as a "despicable terrorist attack" and saying that the US side would "take the opportunity to hold the attackers accountable in its own way". U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said the U.S. military would respond "at a time and place of its own choosing."
However, such a response seems a little weak and ambiguous. The United States has always taken a tough and resolute stance toward armed organizations in the Middle East, never mentioning the time and place, and will immediately launch strikes whenever there is a target. This time, it seems to be procrastinating and hesitating, perhaps considering the consequences and risks. After all, the United States is now in the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, and if it gets involved in the chaos in the Middle East, it will not only affect the strategic adjustment of the United States, but also arouse opposition and dissatisfaction in the United States. Moreover, the United States is not sure whether it is Iran behind this attack, or whether someone wants to take the opportunity to provoke a conflict between the United States and Iran and put the United States in a greater predicament.
The US hegemony in the Middle East has been challenged and threatened as never before. The drone attacks by the anti-US forces are only the tip of the iceberg, and what is deeper is the political, religious, ethnic, and economic contradictions and conflicts in the Middle East, as well as the games and rivalries between various forces. It is not an easy thing for the United States to maintain its interests and influence in such an environment, nor is it something that can be solved by force. The United States needs to re-examine its strategic goals and methods in the Middle East, otherwise it may sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the Middle East and eventually become unable to extricate itself.