Photos show soldiers killed in Jordan in 2016, not 2024 drone attack
Photographs of three US soldiers killed in Jordan in 2016 were falsely shared online
(Reuters) - Photographs of three U.S. soldiers killed in Jordan in 2016 were falsely shared online as showing three U.S. service members killed in a January 2024 drone attack.
On Sunday, Jan. 28, three Army Reserve soldiers; Sergeant William Jerome Rivers, Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett; were killed in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants in Jordan.
Posts on platform X, opens new tab and Facebook, opens new tab shared photographs of three different soldiers with the caption: “The three US service members killed Friday in Jordan were Green Berets 5th Special Forces Group The Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based soldiers - Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen, Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty.”
However, the names and images in the posts belong to members of a U.S. Army Special Forces group killed on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, when their convoy came under fire while entering a military base in Jordan.
The same photographs appear in news, opens new tab reports, opens new tab from that time.
Press releases about the 2016, opens new tab and 2024, opens new tab incidents can be viewed on the U.S. Department of Defense website.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. Photographs do not show three U.S. soldiers killed in a January 2024 drone attack in Jordan. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
