CENTCOM confirmed that two US service members were killed in action and one remains missing after Iranian ballistic missiles and drones struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17, according to a US Central Command statement.
Four additional service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals and have since been discharged, while others treated for minor injuries have returned to duty, according to the same CENTCOM statement.
The deaths mark the first American combat fatalities from direct Iranian fire since March and bring the US military death toll in the war to at least 17, according to Stars and Stripes.
The base was struck twice in the preceding week, with an earlier attack wounding about 20 troops before the July 17 strike that killed the two service members, according to Stars and Stripes, citing The New York Times.
Muwaffaq Salti, also known as Azraq, has been targeted repeatedly since the war began; a US THAAD radar system there was destroyed in an Iranian strike around March 1 or 2, according to CNN.
Iranian state media have claimed that US fighter and support aircraft were destroyed or damaged in the July attacks, but those claims had not been independently verified or confirmed by the Department of Defense as of July 18, according to SOF News.
