U.S. President Donald Trump will attend the dignified handover of six soldiers killed in an Iranian attack on Kuwait on Saturday, the White House said on Friday, the first American death as the war with Tehran escalates.
A drone struck a key U.S. command center in the southern Kuwait industrial hub of Shuaibah on Sunday, killing soldiers, a day after the United States and Israel launched a sweeping military campaign against Iran.
The ceremony will be held at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the remains of U.S. troops killed overseas will be transported back to U.S. soil.
The dead soldiers, five men and one woman, aged between 20 and 54, were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, which is responsible for providing food, fuel, equipment and ammunition to the troops.
The transfer of dignity is one of the most solemn duties undertaken by a President of the United States.
The process was not a formal government ceremony but an elaborate military ceremony, with a team of service members from the same unit carrying flag-draped transfer boxes from the plane carrying the remains of the fallen soldiers.
The bodies were then transferred to waiting vehicles and transported to a mortuary facility in Dover, where the Armed Forces Forensic System conducted identification and prepared the remains for burial.
Trump has attended several such handovers during his presidency, and the White House has previously said he would honor the six victims killed in Kuwait even before the date was announced.
“Tomorrow, he will travel to Joint Base Dover to participate in the dignified transfer of the remains of six service members who were killed in an opening salvo launched by Iran against our troops,” White House spokesperson Carolyn Leavitt said.
The attack that killed them underscores the risks to U.S. personnel deployed across the Middle East as the conflict with Iran escalates, with Tehran launching drones and missiles at U.S. and allied targets across the region.
U.S. officials have warned that fighting could intensify in the coming days.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
