US Air Force Cmdr. Found Dead in Al Udeid Base in Qatar

By Staff, Agencies

The commander of an Air Force Red Horse squadron has died while deployed to Qatar in support of "Operation Inherent Resolve", the US War Department announced Sunday.

Lt. Col. James C. Willis, 55, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was found dead at 7:30 a.m. June 26 at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, according to a US Air Forces Central news release. The noncombat-related incident is under investigation.

While deployed, Willis was a member of the 557^th Expeditionary Red Horse Squadron.

In 2014, the US launched "Operation Inherent Resolve" [OIR] which carries out military operations in Iraq.

On January 2, 2020, the United States conducted a drone strike in Baghdad that caused the martyrdom of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] – Quds Force. The strike also martyred the former deputy leader of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces [PMF], Jamal Jafaar Ibrahimi, better known as Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, and several other individuals.