The Pentagon on Monday recognized the lifeless troopers as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Spec. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Spec. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga. The three have been assigned to the 718th Engineer Firm, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, an Military Reserve unit primarily based in Fort Moore, Ga.
The drone strike on the outpost in northeast Jordan close to its borders with Syria and Iraq, referred to as Tower 22, escalated hostilities within the area which were mounting because the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel and the next conflict in Gaza.
Mr. Biden has vowed to retaliate, and he met for a second straight day on Monday along with his senior nationwide safety aides to debate potential targets in Syria, Iraq and Iran. Senior U.S. officers mentioned attacking Iran straight was much less probably, although the U.S. army has drawn up plans to strike Iranian army advisers and trainers in Iraq and Syria within the occasion that U.S. troops have been killed by Iran-backed militias within the Center East.
Protection Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, on his first day again to work on the Pentagon since his surgical procedure final month for prostate most cancers, condemned the assaults and vowed retribution.
“Let me start with my outrage and sorrow for the deaths of three brave U.S. troops in Jordan and for the other troops who were wounded,” Mr. Austin mentioned earlier than assembly with NATO’s secretary basic, Jens Stoltenberg. “The president and I will not tolerate attacks on U.S. forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the U.S. and our troops.”
The drone strike in Jordan underscored that the Iran-backed militias — whether or not in Iran or Syria, or the Houthis in Yemen — remained able to inflicting severe penalties on American troops regardless of the U.S. army’s efforts to weaken them and keep away from tumbling right into a wider battle, presumably with Iran itself.
American troops in Iraq and Syria, and now Jordan, have come beneath assault a minimum of 165 instances since October — 66 instances in Iraq, 98 instances in Syria and Sunday’s assault in Jordan — the Pentagon mentioned on Monday. Greater than 80 service members had suffered accidents, together with mind trauma, earlier than the most recent salvo.
“We know that Iran supports these groups,” John F. Kirby, a Nationwide Safety Council spokesman, mentioned on Monday. “We know they resource them, we know they train them. We know that they’re certainly not discouraging these attacks.”
However Mr. Kirby added, “The degree to which they order and direct is something that intelligence analysts will look at.”
Pressed repeatedly at briefings with reporters on Monday about when and the way the US would reply, Mr. Kirby and Ms. Singh declined to touch upon particular choices. They emphasised that the administration was looking for to avert a wider conflict within the area, whilst they blamed the assault for escalating tensions.
“We’re not looking for a war with Iran,” Mr. Kirby mentioned, including: “The attacks need to stop.”
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned on Monday that he wouldn’t “telegraph” any potential U.S. response however that such motion “could be multileveled, come in stages — and be sustained over time.”
Mr. Blinken added: “This is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East. I would argue that we have not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.”
For its half, Iran on Monday denied any hyperlink to the assault and blamed Washington for igniting tensions within the area.
About 350 Military and Air Power personnel are deployed to the Tower 22 border outpost. It serves as a logistics and resupply hub for the Al Tanf garrison close by in southeastern Syria, the place American troops work with native Syrian companions to struggle remnants of the Islamic State.
The one-way assault drone hit close to the outpost’s residing quarters, inflicting accidents that ranged from minor cuts to mind trauma, a U.S. army official mentioned. Eight U.S. service members have been flown to Iraq for medical care, and three of these have been anticipated to be flown to Germany for much more superior therapy, Ms. Singh mentioned.
The troopers and airmen have been residing in containerized housing items, Ms. Singh mentioned, basically aluminum packing containers just a little greater than a industrial delivery container. They’ve linoleum flooring and cots or beds inside, and could be simply transported on vehicles.
“What was different about this attack is where it landed,” Ms. Singh mentioned. “It was pretty early in the morning, so people were actually in their beds when the drone impacted.”
Michael Crowley contributed reporting.
