U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to respond after a drone attack on Sunday that killed three American soldiers and wounded at least 34 others at a base in Jordan near the Syrian border, accusing Iranian-backed factions of being behind the attack.

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The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” composed of factions supported by Iran, announced that it carried out “drone” attacks at dawn on Sunday, targeting three bases in Syrian territory, including the Al-Tanf and Rukban bases, which are close to the border with Jordan. The organization noted that the attacks come within the framework of resistance to the “occupation.” America in Iraq and the region,” and “a response to the massacres” of Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Tower 22 includes about 350 soldiers from the American ground and air forces carrying out support missions for the coalition forces against the Islamic State.

This is the first time that American soldiers have been killed in the region since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip about four months ago.

U.S. forces have been targeted in more than 150 attacks since mid-October in Syria and Iraq, according to the Pentagon.

Iran denied Monday its involvement in the attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement, “The Islamic Republic does not want the conflict to expand in the Middle East.”

Kanaani considered that “repeating these accusations without evidence… is a conspiracy by those who believe that their interest lies in dragging America into a new battle in the region and inciting it to expand and inflame the crisis in order to cover up their problems.”

Jordan condemned the attack. Government spokesman Muhannad Moubaideen said in a statement on Sunday that the attack on American forces targeted “an advanced site on the border with Syria that includes American forces cooperating with Jordan in confronting terrorism.”

Political analysts criticized the official declaration of Jordan, wondering if the official Jordanian version means that the attack did not occur on Jordanian territory. The question that many asks is that the Jordanian government does not know about the presence of the American base (Tower 22) near the Syrian border, or does it know and does not want to admit it.

Washington responded last month to the attacks targeting it in Syria and Iraq with a series of strikes in Iraq targeting groups loyal to Iran.

The United States and Britain also responded with joint strikes on sites of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who, since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, have also launched attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, targeting ships they say are linked to Israel, in support of the Palestinians.

In the far east of Syria, groups of pro-Iranian fighters evacuated 12 sites on Monday in the Albukamal and Al-Mayadeen regions, according to what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Monday.

The Observatory explained that these groups “moved to alternative locations for fear of the American response after the killing of three American soldiers.”

The increasing violence in multiple parts of the Middle East has raised fears of a broader regional conflict that directly includes Iran.

Anyhow, across the region, there four hot spot that could provoke a wider war in the Middle East. In addition to the conflict dynamics between Israel and Lebanon, the Red Sea, Iraq and Syria have all become arenas of conflict caused by the confrontation in Gaza. Any one of these hot spots could quickly escalate to a wider confrontation.

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