A Fort Bragg lieutenant was among two U.S. Army soldiers killed following an Iranian attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan over the weekend, the Pentagon announced Monday.
First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, died July 18. Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, died July 17. Both were killed in action during an enemy attack on the base, the Army said.
Feehan was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command at Fort Bragg. Gonzales was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.
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The Army said the incident remains under investigation.
U.S. Central Command first announced Sunday that the two soldiers had died and another was missing following the attack in Jordan. Later that day, military personnel recovered unidentified remains at the attack site, and officials said forensic examinations were underway to confirm the identity.
In a separate incident, CENTCOM said a U.S. service member was killed in action July 18 in northern Iraq while conducting a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member suffered a minor injury and continues to receive medical treatment. The military has not publicly identified the service members involved in that incident.
U.S. military death toll
The deaths bring the number of U.S. military personnel killed in the conflict to 17. Feehan is the first Fort Bragg soldier killed in the Middle East since the start of the war with Iran.
The conflict began Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iranian leadership, military, missile and nuclear-related targets in an operation known by the U.S. military as Operation Epic Fury.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against U.S. forces and allies across the Middle East, expanding the fighting into a regional conflict marked by repeated attacks on American military installations, commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and sustained U.S. airstrikes against Iranian military targets.
The announcement of the recent U.S. military deaths came as U.S. Central Command said it had completed its ninth consecutive evening of strikes against Iran on Sunday, July 19. According to CENTCOM, U.S. forces targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks in an effort to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said U.S. forces remain “highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready.”
Reporting by F.T. Norton, Fayetteville Observer / The Fayetteville Observer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
