Members of a Tampa Bay-area congregation stranded by regional strikes recounted air raid sirens and a complex rescue through Jordan.<\/p>\n
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The remains of six U.S. service members killed in a drone strike in Kuwait were returned home Saturday, more than a week after the United States and Israel launched a coordinated attack on Iran aimed at crippling its nuclear program and forcing regime change.<\/p>\n
Iran has responded with retaliatory strikes on U.S. military bases, Israeli targets<\/a> and sites across the Middle East. As the Iranian president called for peace Saturday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that violence could escalate, writing in part: \u201cIRAN WILL BE HIT VERY HARD!\u201d<\/p>\n With Iran\u2019s supreme leader killed in the strikes, uncertainty remains about what comes next for the country and who will take control.<\/p>\n The widening regional conflict has also affected Americans abroad, including dozens from the Tampa Bay area who found themselves caught in the middle of the crisis.<\/p>\n 34 members of a St. Petersburg church group were stranded as regional airspace restrictions and escalating attacks complicated travel plans. The group, from GT Church Assembly of God<\/a>, had been visiting Israel on a tour of the Holy Land when the conflict began last week.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst time we\u2019ve really felt safe since this thing began,\u201d Pastor Randy Helms said after the group arrived in Athens on Saturday.<\/p>\n Members of the group said they heard air raid sirens in Israel during a water baptism as the war with Iran began. They later crossed into Jordan as part of an evacuation effort that ultimately brought them to Greece.<\/p>\n \u201cManeuvered us through that border. We didn’t have VISAs. We didn’t have anything. Just worked magic at the border, took us to Amman and for the next three days, we were in Amman,\u201d Helms said.<\/p>\n Helms described the experience as an unexpected spiritual test.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s out of your control. There is nothing you can do. You just have to trust and learn to trust. I\u2019ll tell you something else. There was a strange calmness that settled in with our group,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n