The Defense Department has identified a soldier who died in a non-combat incident in Qatar as Army Staff Sgt. Felix A. Berrios, 33, of Houston.
Berrios died on Nov. 3 at Al Udeid Air Base, a Defense Department news release says. No specific information about the circumstances of his death were available on Monday. Al Udeid Air Base is not one of the bases in the region that Pentagon officials have said have been under drone and rocket attacks in recent weeks.
An investigation into his death is ongoing.
At the time of his death, Berrios was assigned to the 25th Signal Battalion, 160th Signal Brigade, U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command.
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His father Robert Berrios posted the following message on Facebook: “Today God call my son to be at his side fly high tony we will miss you my son tomorrow you would have turned 34 years old so God wanted you to celebrate with the Happy birthday son.”
Berrios was taking part in Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led effort against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Since June 2014, a total of 260 U.S. service members have died while supporting operations against ISIS, including 89 non-combat deaths, according to the Defense Department.
Since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have come under rocket and drone attack from Iranian-backed groups nearly 30 times, according to the Pentagon.
Still, U.S. troops and partner forces conducted 15 missions against ISIS in Iraq and Syria between Oct. 7 and Oct. 29, U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, posted on X last month. Those operations resulted in two suspected ISIS operatives being killed and another 27 captured.
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