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 had 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 have been mounting for the reason that 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 together with his senior nationwide safety aides to debate doable targets in Syria, Iraq and Iran. Senior U.S. officers mentioned attacking Iran immediately was much less possible, 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 had 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 begin with my outrage and sorrow for the deaths of three courageous U.S. troops in Jordan and for the opposite troops who had been wounded,” Mr. Austin mentioned earlier than assembly with NATO’s secretary normal, Jens Stoltenberg. “The president and I can’t tolerate assaults on U.S. forces, and we’ll take all vital 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, probably with Iran itself.
American troops in Iraq and Syria, and now Jordan, have come underneath assault not less than 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 all know that Iran helps these teams,” John F. Kirby, a Nationwide Safety Council spokesman, mentioned on Monday. “We all know they useful resource them, we all know they prepare them. We all know that they’re actually not discouraging these assaults.”
However Mr. Kirby added, “The diploma to which they order and direct is one thing that intelligence analysts will take a 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 searching for to avert a wider conflict within the area, whilst they blamed the assault for escalating tensions.
“We’re not on the lookout for a conflict with Iran,” Mr. Kirby mentioned. “However the assaults need to cease.”
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned on Monday that he wouldn’t “telegraph” any potential U.S. response however that such motion “might be multileveled, are available in levels — and be sustained over time.”
Mr. Blinken added: “That is an extremely risky time within the Center East. I might argue that we’ve not seen a scenario as harmful because the one we’re dealing with now throughout the area since not less than 1973, and arguably even earlier than 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 battle remnants of the Islamic State.
The one-way assault drone hit close to the outpost’s dwelling quarters, inflicting accidents that ranged from minor cuts to mind trauma, a U.S. army official mentioned. Eight U.S. service members had been flown to Iraq for medical care, and three of these had been anticipated to be flown to Germany for much more superior remedy, Ms. Singh mentioned.
The troopers and airmen had been dwelling in containerized housing items, Ms. Singh mentioned, primarily aluminum packing containers a bit of larger than a industrial transport container. They’ve linoleum flooring and cots or beds inside, and may be simply transported on vehicles.
“What was completely different about this assault is the place it landed,” Ms. Singh mentioned. “It was fairly early within the morning, so individuals had been really of their beds when the drone impacted.”
Michael Crowley contributed reporting.