President Biden attended the repatriation of the bodies of three American soldiers killed by Iran-backed militants in Jordan last weekend after meeting with their families.
Biden, 81, appeared close to tears and put his hand over his heart on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as flag-draped cases containing bodies were unloaded from a military cargo plane.
Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, was killed and more than 40 US soldiers were wounded in a drone strike on January 28 at a remote outpost called Tower 22 near the Syrian border.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is recovering from prostate cancer surgery, used a cane to stand with first lady Jill Biden and other officials on the runway.
Biden met personally with the families of the three soldiers before their remains were transferred.
The president earlier spoke by phone with relatives and asked if they wanted him to attend — after his attempt to comfort the families of 13 Americans killed in August 2021 during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan went sideways after he checked his watch and talked about himself son Beau’s death from cancer.
President Biden arrived Friday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to meet with the families of three American soldiers killed by Iran-backed militants in Jordan ahead of a repatriation ceremony. AFP via Getty Images
Biden, who spent Thursday night at his home in Wilmington, took an unusually short 19-minute flight on Air Force One to reach the Dover base instead of making the roughly 50-minute motor drive to central Delaware.
He returned to Wilmington after the ceremony.
Biden told reporters Tuesday that “yes” he had determined the US response to the attack, but the American military had not announced a counterattack.
Military personnel salute during the dignified transfer of the remains of three US service members killed in Jordan. REUTERS (From left) US Army Reserve Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett and Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders was killed in a drone attack on a post in northeastern Jordan. via REUTERS
The Iranian-backed Iraqi group Kataib Hezbollah, a potential perpetrator, said on Tuesday it would halt its attacks on American troops.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella group was ultimately responsible for the deadly attack.
The deaths in Jordan followed a series of other operations by Iranian proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and off the coast of Yemen following the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas against Israel.
Rivers, Sanders, and Moffett were killed and more than 40 US soldiers were wounded in a Jan. 28 drone strike on the Syrian border. AP Army transport teams move an evacuation case containing the body of US Army Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. AP Biden, 81, spoke by phone with relatives and asked if they wanted him to attend, the House said White ahead of the event. REUTERS President Biden, Jill Biden, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III attend the funeral of three US service members. Reuters
Biden last month ordered US airstrikes against the Houthi movement that controls Yemen’s most populous region after the Iran-backed group repeatedly attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 200 hostages to the Gaza Strip on October 7, triggering an invasion by the Jewish state to oust the group from power in the territory.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
