The ‘tinderbox’ Middle Eastern borderlands where US troops faced attack

For years, Arab and western officials have kept a watchful eye over an arid tract of land in a remote corner of the Middle East, where US troops, Iran-linked militias and the remnants of Isis all operate.

Tehran-backed militants sit at checkpoints and makeshift bases along the strategically important Baghdad-Damascus highway, which they long ago seized — the epicentre of a highly prized smuggling network in the border triangle, a centre for drugs and weapons trafficking by militants and criminal gangs.

On Sunday, this corner between Jordan, Syria and Iraq became the latest flashpoint in the widening regional hostilities that have drawn the US back into combat.

A drone attack on a small US base in north-east Jordan known as Tower 22 killed three US soldiers and injured dozens more, becoming the first such assault to kill American troops since the Israel-Hamas war increased tensions across the region. Washington blamed “radical Iran-backed militant groups” and vowed to hold those responsible to account. 

“That area has long been a tinderbox,” said a senior western diplomat in the region. “We’ve always been worried about US and Iranian forces getting into direct confrontation there, whether by accident or on purpose.”

The attack underlined the threat to US interests from Iran-backed militants and the challenge facing President Joe Biden in seeking to counter their attacks while avoiding being drawn into a full-blown regional war.

The US has about 3,000 troops across Jordan, a longtime ally. But American troops are at their most vulnerable in Iraq and Syria, where they are surrounded by hostile factions. As part of the US-led coalition fighting Isis, the US has maintained 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 more in Syria, mostly in the north-east, an area controlled by Kurdish groups.

Yet these countries, where the US…