Two US officials told there was confusion over whether the drone, which killed three US Army soldiers and injured numerous others in Jordan on Sunday, was hostile and that this delayed the US response. The drone approached Tower 22, in Jordan a US military outpost, at the same time as an American drone was returning to the base.
As the American drone arrived, the enemy drone followed it, although one of the officials stated that it’s unclear if this was a coincidence or if the hostile drone in Jordan followed the American drone on purpose. Additionally, US officials are still determining the hostile drone’s origin.
Who were the killed troops?
Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, were named by the Pentagon as the victims of the attack.
According to the Defense Department, Sgt. William Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Specialist Kennedy Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, are the three US soldiers who were killed in the attack on Monday.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stated
At a conference, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stated that they were all assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, a US Army Reserve unit situated in Fort Moore, Georgia.
Information of the incident on Sunday surfaced as President Joe Biden attempted to find a balance between condemning Iran and seeking to retaliate forcefully without inflaming the situation in Gaza.
According to a preliminary assessment reported by two officials who insisted on anonymity and were not allowed to talk, a U.S. drone was returning to the tiny site known as Tower 22 in Jordan as the enemy drone was flying in at a low altitude.
Consequently, no attempt was made to bring down the hostile drone that had struck the outpost. The majority of the damage was done to one of the sleeping trailers for the troops, with the neighboring trailers only slightly damaged by flying debris and the blast.
Tower 22 in Jordan does not have any sizable air defense systems, but it does have counter-drone systems such Coyote drone interceptors. The majority of the over 40 soldiers injured in the attack had cuts, bruises, brain damage, and other similar ailments, according to the Pentagon, in addition to the soldiers who were slain.
Three of the eight people killed in Jordan needed medical evacuation were headed to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. It was anticipated that the remaining five, who sustained “minor traumatic brain injuries,” would resume their duties.
When asked if “human error” was to blame for the inability to take down the hostile drone, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh replied that the U.S. Central Command was currently investigating the situation.
The 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, located in Fort Moore, Georgia, was the home of the three U.S. Army Reserve men.
What Biden said?
The White House announced on Monday that it is not seeking to go to war with Iran, despite Biden’s threats of retaliation. This was the reason given for how the hostile drone managed to avoid American air defenses. The Democratic administration thinks the strike was orchestrated from Tehran.
On Sunday, Biden said that the United States was not looking to become involved in another Middle East crisis, but he did pledge to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”
Iran claimed on Monday its involvement in the attack on Jordan
Foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani was reported by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency as stating, “These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities of the region.” Iran consistently refutes any role in assaults traced to it by the militias it supplies around the Middle East Jordan.
According to Kirby, efforts are still underway by US officials to identify the extremist organization responsible for the attack. He mentioned how Iran had long since trained and armed its militias.
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