U.S. air defenses at a remote military outpost in Jordan failed to stop a deadly drone attack yesterday because it arrived at the same time that an American drone was returning to base, American officials said.
Three U.S. service members died in the strike, the first known American military deaths in the conflict that has spilled over from the Israel-Hamas war.
The returning American craft prompted confusion over whether the hostile drone — which U.S. officials said had the “footprints of Kataib Hezbollah,” an Iran-affiliated group in Iraq — was friendly, and air defenses were not immediately activated.
The drone landed near the living quarters of Tower 22, an American resupply base in northeast Jordan near Syria and Iraq.
President Biden, who has vowed to retaliate, could order strikes on Iran’s proxy forces, a major escalation of the attacks he has already conducted in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Persons:
William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders, Alexsondria Moffett, ”, Iraq —, Biden
Organizations:
U.S, Pentagon, Hezbollah
Locations:
Jordan, American, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen