“The current situation in the Middle East is highly complex and sensitive. I hope all parties involved will remain calm and restrained, strengthen dialogue and communication, and avoid falling into a vicious cycle of retaliation and retribution,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told Rudaw’s Mahdi Faraj in a Beijing press briefing.
Wenbin added that China has learned of the attack on US soldiers in Jordan, which Washington blamed on Iranian-backed militias. He also stressed that Iran has stated that “it is not related to the attack.”
A drone strike blamed on Iran-aligned militias on Sunday killed at least three US service members and injured 34 in an American military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border.
Iran-affiliated militias have attacked bases of the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria with rockets and drones over 165 times since October 17, causing approximately 80 injuries. US forces have responded with several retaliatory strikes, killing at least 12 militiamen in Iraq.
Israel, a major US ally, has also intensified its attacks in the Middle East since Hamas militants launched a massive air, ground, and sea offensive into its south on October 7. It has carried out at least 47 strikes on Syrian territory that have killed Iran-affiliated fighters, including top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
