French President Emannuel Macron on Thursday revealed one of his troops died in a drone attack amid the Iran war.
The attack occurred in Iraq. Macron said it was carried out on French soldiers stationed in Iraq to combat ISIS terrorists. The drone strike targeted troops engaged in counterterrorism training activities with Iraqi partners, the French Armed Forces General Staff told AFP, killing one and injuring five others.
Macron stated that one soldier died, identifying him as Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion of the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins. The French president did not confirm whether the drone attack was carried out by Iran, which has targeted a number of countries in the Middle East and beyond with retaliatory strikes following the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on the country in February. But Macron said in a post to X that “the war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.”
“This attack against our forces engaged in the fight against Daesh since 2015 is unacceptable,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the group. “Their presence in Iraq is part of the strict framework of the fight against terrorism.”
Macron’s announcement came the same day the Pentagon revealed a U.S. military refueling aircraft was lost as it flew over western Iraq amid Washington’s move to deploy resources to the region for the Iran war. It remains unclear whether any military personnel were killed or injured when the KC-135 Stratotankers went down.
UKRAINE LOOKS TO PROVE ITS VALUE TO AMERICA WITH DRONE ASSISTANCE
U.S. Central Command requested “patience to gather additional details and provide clarity for the families of service members.”
Seven U.S. military members have been killed thus far in the war against Iran. The Pentagon said Tuesday that roughly 140 service members in the Middle East have since sustained injuries, including eight still listed as “severely injured.”
