Mix-up preceded deadly drone strike in Jordan, US officials say
The Pentagon on Monday identified the dead soldiers as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Spec. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spec. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, from Savannah, Georgia. The three soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, an Army Reserve unit based at Fort Moore, Georgia.
The drone strike on the outpost in northeastern Jordan near the borders with Syria and Iraq, called Tower 22, escalated hostilities in the region that have increased since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Mr. Biden has vowed to retaliate, meeting with his top national security aides on Monday for a second day in a row to discuss possible targets in Syria, Iraq and Iran. Senior US officials said a direct strike on Iran was less likely, although the US military has drawn up plans to attack Iranian military advisers and trainers in Iraq and Syria in case US troops were killed by Iranian-backed militias in the Center -East.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Monday, on his first day back to work at the Pentagon since being hospitalized for complications from prostate cancer, condemned the attacks and vowed retaliation.
“Let me begin with my outrage and sadness at the deaths of three brave American troops in Jordan and at the other troops who were injured,” Mr. Austin said before meeting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “The President and I will not tolerate attacks on U.S. forces, and we will take all necessary measures to defend the U.S. and our forces.”
The drone strike in Jordan underscored that Iranian-backed militias – whether in Iran or Syria, or the Houthis in Yemen – remained capable of inflicting serious consequences on US forces, despite the US military's efforts to weaken them and prevent them from falling into a wider conflict. possibly with Iran itself.
U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, and now Jordan, have been attacked at least 165 times since October — 66 times in Iraq, 98 times in Syria and Sunday's attack in Jordan, the Pentagon said Monday. More than 80 soldiers had suffered injuries, including brain trauma, before the final salvo.
“We know that Iran supports these groups,” John F. Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. “We know they're providing them with resources, we know they're training them. We know that they certainly do not discourage these attacks.”
But Mr Kirby added: “The extent to which they provide command and direction is something that intelligence analysts will look at.”
Pressed repeatedly during briefings with reporters on Monday about when and how the United States would respond, Mr. Kirby and Ms. Singh declined to comment on specific options. They emphasized that the government was trying to avert a wider war in the region, even as they blamed the attack for escalating tensions.
“We are not looking for a war with Iran,” Mr. Kirby said. “But the attacks must stop.”
Iran, for its part, on Monday denied any link to the attack and blamed Washington for stoking tensions in the region.
About 350 army and air force personnel are deployed at the Tower 22 border post. It serves as a logistics and supply center for the nearby Al Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, where U.S. forces are working with local Syrian partners to combat the remnants of the Islamic State .
The one-way drone struck the outpost's living quarters, causing injuries ranging from minor cuts to brain trauma, a U.S. military official said. Eight American service members were flown to Iraq for medical care, and three of those were expected to be flown to Germany for even more advanced treatment, Ms. Singh said.
The soldiers and airmen lived in container homes, or CHUs, Ms. Singh said, essentially aluminum boxes slightly larger than a commercial shipping container. They have a linoleum floor and cribs or beds inside, and they can be easily transported on trucks.
“What was different about this attack is where it landed,” Ms Singh said. “It was quite early in the morning, so people were actually in their beds when the drone hit.”