Two U.S. service members were wounded conducting “advise and assist” missions in separate attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday.
Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said in both cases the U.S. advisers were hit by “indirect fire,” and were not engaged in offensive operations.
“I want to point out these were people operating behind the forward line of troops. They were not on the front lines, they were not engaged in active combat,” David said.
Asked by reporters to clarify the difference between “combat,” and “active combat,” Davis said “They’re not out trigger-pulling offensively.”
The Pentagon says one incident occurred in northern Iraq, in the vicinity of Irbil, and the other was in western Syria. The department would not provide details about the seriousness of the wounds, except to say that neither service member had returned to duty.
“We don’t talk in detail about our wounded because we don’t want to telegraph battle damage assessment to our enemy,” Davis said.
The Pentagon has continued to draw a distinction between being in a dangerous war zone, as opposed to being engaged in offensive combat operations.
Last week, President Obama acknowledged that the three U.S. military deaths in Iraq since the beginning of the war against the Islamic State were in fact the result of combat.
The three men are Army Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin, and Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Keating.
In an interview Friday with Stars and Stripes, Obama said, “These three men were killed in combat while they were supporting local forces in Iraq.”
