The explosion of a drone recorded on Sunday, January 28 at a US base located north of Jordan is considered the worst blow suffered by US forces in Middle East since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas. Washington assures that behind the attack that left 3 soldiers dead and at least 40 wounded is the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), a group backed by Iran that has claimed responsibility for more than one hundred and a half attacks against US military centers in Iraq and Syria.
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According to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, IRI planned, financed and facilitated the attack, but the United States considers Iran responsible for it. In addition, he assured that President Joe Biden is considering different options for retaliation, adding that “It won’t be a single blow”.
Tehran, for its part, responded to the accusations through its permanent representative at the UN, who assured that Iran “It has no link or anything to do with the attack on the US base”. However, the Islamic government later threatened to “respond decisively” to any attack against him.
Tower 22, the American counterintelligence base, is located on Jordan’s border with Syria.
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– An umbrella of organizations –
The first time it was known about IRI was on October 17, 2023, ten days after Israel declared war on Hamas following the terrorist attacks. According to the Meir Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Information Center, the group’s appearance occurred through a Telegram channel in which it claimed responsibility for the attack on the US Harir air base in Iraqi Kurdistan.
As of Oct. 30, IRI has claimed responsibility for another 20 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. To date, the number of attacks exceeds 150, according to the Pentagon.
Later, on November 2, IRI announced that it was also attacking Israeli bases, although Jewish forces have not confirmed having recorded any of them.
According to the Meir Amit center, IRI is an umbrella organization under which several pro-Iran militias led by the Quds Force, the powerful elite paramilitary arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, gather.
It is believed that IRI emerged as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition that brings together the militias that emerged after the US invasion of Iraq and that was created to confront the Islamic State, but that after the fall of the jihadist group continued to operate with the support from Iran.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/TRN6MFIA2VCJBBT3FD2A72KF6Y.jpeg "The Islamic Resistance in Iraq: what do we know about the militia that attacked the US in Jordan? 1")
These would be the organizations grouped under the IRI umbrella, according to Arab media.
According to the Washington Institute, IRI does not have any distinctive flag or logo and would represent the maximum peak within the “facade strategy” used by Iran to avoid responsibility for its attacks against the United States.
Organizations specialized in monitoring and studying terrorist groups have not been able, to date, to identify the leader or committee that directs IRI. However, it has been learned that groups such as Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, Al-Warithuun, Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have declared themselves part of IRI.
The United States considers all of these organizations to be terrorist groups.
Biden, who this Friday the 2nd will receive the remains of the soldiers killed in Jordan during a ceremony at the White House, assured that “Those responsible will be held accountable, when and as we deem appropriate.”.
This has raised fears, once again, that the region will be plunged into generalized war. Adding to this new moment of tension are the Iranian attacks in Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, in addition to the US air operations against the Houthi rebels in Yemen for their assaults against shipping in the Red Sea.
