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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Islamic State fire kills Navy SEAL in combat in Iraq

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STUTTGART, Germany — The combat death of a U.S. Navy SEAL who was advising Kurdish forces in Iraq coincides with a gradually deepening American role in fighting a resilient Islamic State, even as the Iraqis struggle to muster the military and political strength to defeat the militants.

Over the course of the nearly 2-year-old campaign, the Pentagon has slowly expanded the American military role. The strategy, criticized by some as incremental and inadequate, aims to ensure that the Iraqis do the ground combat, supported by U.S. airpower, special operations advisers and others.

As the Iraqis have gained competence and confidence and prepared an assault in hopes of retaking Mosul, the Pentagon has announced plans to put more U.S. troops in Iraq and place them closer to the front lines.

In Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s view, that means a greater chance for success. It also means more risk to U.S. troops, as he acknowledged Tuesday in announcing the latest death, the third of an American service member in combat in Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition launched its campaign against the Islamic State in the summer of 2014.

“It shows you it’s a serious fight that we have to wage in Iraq,” Carter said.

The SEAL was identified Tuesday as Charlie Keating IV, 31, who grew up in Phoenix and attended the Naval Academy before becoming a SEAL based out of Coronado, Calif. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Keating died in an Islamic State group attack near the city of Irbil.

Seven months ago, a special operations soldier, 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, was killed during a Kurdish-led raid on an Islamic State prison in northern Iraq. In March, a Marine artilleryman, Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, 27, was killed when the militants launched a rocket attack on a newly established U.S. firebase outside Mosul.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident and extended condolences to Keating’s family. Earnest said the incident was a “vivid reminder” of the dangers facing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.

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