The United States mistook the drone that killed its soldiers as its own drone and did not activate its anti-aircraft defense

The United States mistook the suicide drone that killed three of its soldiers and injured 34 others in Jordan as one of its own, so Anti-aircraft defense system was not activated to shoot it down, The problem was further compounded because the base that was attacked, called Tower 22, was a small military installation.

according to the newspaper wall street journal quoting sources pentagonA drone was returning from that country when the attack took place Jordan After a mission over Syria, and air defense systems confused the attacker with that equipment. The same sources do not state whether the confusion was accidental or whether the attacking drones deliberately used the drones returning to their base to disguise their presence or at least confuse radars. The problem was aggravated because at the time of the bombing, Tower-22 was not protected by Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, although it probably had other means of anti-aircraft defense. of 34 soldiers injured

Eight have had to be transferred out of Jordan to receive medical treatment.

Tower 22 is located in Jordan, 10 kilometers from that country’s border. Syria and Iraq, and provides logistics support to the neighboring US base Al-Tanf, located 20 kilometers to the north, next to the border in Syria. Iraqwhich has been one of the main military establishments usa -and, in the past, some of its allies, such as Norway-, since the Western intervention to destroy Islamic State (IS) in Syria in 2014.

America has created a zone conflict reduction Which practically means that no one can enter there without risking getting themselves blown up by American soldiers. Various militias opposed to the Syrian dictatorial regime are present in the area Bashir al-Assad

That includes the Rukban refugee camp near the border, where 100,000 people displaced by the Syrian civil war have come to live, although today they number 7,500, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Al-Tanf has played a key role in US military operations in Syria and has been the target of several attacks. In 2019, Donald Trump’s government officially changed the base’s mission from fighting IS to curbing “Iranian influence” in Syria, in the words of the then-National Security Advisor. john bolton, Its location is highly strategic, as it is on the M2 highway, which connects Damascus to Mosul, once the capital of IS. The route also reaches Iran, so the presence of the base would prevent the transit of men and material from that country. Is. Syria and from there to Lebanon.

Now America’s reaction on this is still pending. According to that country’s media, its focus will be on Iranian forces and their allies in Syria and Iraq, who, according to some sources, have begun to evacuate their positions out of fear of a retaliatory attack. Since Jimmy Carter launched a failed special forces operation inside Iran to rescue hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1980, the United States has clashed militarily with that country during the Reagan and Trump presidencies. , but never attacked Iranian territory.