Arizona National Guard members injured in deadly drone attack in Jordan

PHOENIX — Arizona National Guard members were among those injured in a deadly drone attack in Jordan on over the weekend, Maj. Gen. Kerry Muehlenbeck, who leads the state military force, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Sunday.

The attack Saturday on a base in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border killed three American troops and wounded many others. The militia groups that White House officials blamed for the attacks have been sending strikes for months, but these are the first U.S. troop fatalities.

Muehlenbeck said no Arizona National Guard members were killed, but multiple service members were injured. Three were medically evacuated for further care but are expected to recover.

It is unknown how many Arizonan service members were injured, Capt. Erin Hannigan, an Arizona National Guard spokesperson, said Monday morning.

“Facts of this attack are still being collected,” she said.

Hannigan said the Arizona guardsman injured in the attack deployed in September 2023 to support Operation Spartan Shield.

“Their role while in theater is to provide law and order and personal security capabilities,” she said.

Officials are withholding the injured servicemembers’ identities in accordance with Department of Defense policy, she said.

What is Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs saying about attack on military in Jordan?

“I am heartbroken to hear of the Arizona National Guardsmen wounded in action during the attack in Jordan,” Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said in a statement. “I am actively monitoring the situation and my administration is in close contact with AZ NG Adjutant General Muehlenbeck. We standby and are ready to offer support for the Guardsmen and their families. I want to thank every member of the National Guard serving at home and abroad for their bravery and sacrifice and their dedication to keeping Arizona families safe.”

What is White House saying about attack on military in Jordan?

White House officials said radical militia groups in Syria and Iraq that were backed by Iran carried out the attack.

President Joe Biden called it “despicable and wholly unjust attack” in a written statement. He said the service members were “risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism. It is a fight we will not cease.”

In a statement on Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency, the country “condemned the terrorist attack” that targeted the U.S. troops. That report described the drone strike as targeting “an outpost on the border with Syria” and said it did not wound any Jordanian troops.

U.S. troops long have used Jordan, a kingdom bordering Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as a basing point. Some 3,000 American troops typically are stationed across Jordan.

The U.S. in recent months has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to respond to attacks on American forces in the region and to deter Iran-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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