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Tower 22 drone attack
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Tower 22 drone attack
On 28 January 2024, an attack drone, launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq—an Iranian-backed Shia militia group—struck Tower 22, a U.S. military outpost in Rukban, northeast Jordan. The explosion killed three U.S. soldiers and injured 47 others.
The incident marked the first time U.S. troops were killed by enemy fire since the start of the Gaza war. President Joe Biden condemned the attack as "despicable" and pledged retaliation at a suitable time. The U.S. began retaliatory strikes on 2 February, hitting sites in Iraq and Syria. Iran denied any involvement in the attack.
Between the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel and 27 January 2024, Iran-backed groups launched missiles and rockets at US and coalition forces in the Middle East on 160 occasions. In these attacks, about 70 US and coalition soldiers sustained mostly minor injuries. The U.S. had retaliated for these incidents eight times.
About 3,000 US troops were stationed in Jordan at the time. The Tower 22 outpost, established as a Jordanian border outpost, had since 2015 been used by US troops in an "advise and assist" mission, initially training rebels fighting the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and later aiding Kurds fighting the Islamic State. Tower 22, which hosts American engineering, aviation, logistics and security personnel, lies 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Al-Tanf garrison in Syria, where US and local forces collaborate in combating the Islamic State. As of 2020, Tower 22 had an operating AN/TPS-75 transportable 3D air search radar. At the time of the attack, there were about 350 personnel from the US Army and Air Force at Tower 22, including personnel from the Arizona National Guard's 158th Infantry Regiment, the California National Guard's 40th Infantry Division, the Kentucky National Guard's 138th Field Artillery Brigade, and the New York National Guard's 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion.
An exploding drone struck the outpost's living quarters, killing three American service members who were asleep in tents at the time. They were subsequently identified as belonging to the 926th Engineer Brigade's 718th Engineer Company, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based at Fort Moore, Georgia. The one man and two women killed were as Sgt. William Rivers, 46; Specialist Kennedy Sanders, 24; and Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23; all Georgia natives.
At least 47 others were injured in the attack, eight of whom had to be medically evacuated outside Jordan, to the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center in Iraq. Of these eight, three were transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for follow-up care. U.S. personnel were evaluated for possible traumatic brain injury. Most of the injured served in the US National Guard and belonged to units based in Arizona, California, Kentucky and New York. By 31 January, at least 27 service personnel were able to report back to duty.
The failure of air defenses to intercept the drone was a key focus of the subsequent U.S. Central Command investigation of the attack. A U.S. preliminary report found that the hostile drone attacked around the same time an American surveillance drone was returning to the base, which likely led to confusion over whether it was an enemy drone and delayed a response.
In the aftermath of the attack, U.S. officials assessed that one of several Iranian-supported groups had launched the attack, although it did not specifically identify the precise group responsible. A US official indicated that a Shahed drone was used in the attack, and a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense said that the attack had the "footprints" of Kata'ib Hezbollah.
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Tower 22 drone attack
On 28 January 2024, an attack drone, launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq—an Iranian-backed Shia militia group—struck Tower 22, a U.S. military outpost in Rukban, northeast Jordan. The explosion killed three U.S. soldiers and injured 47 others.
The incident marked the first time U.S. troops were killed by enemy fire since the start of the Gaza war. President Joe Biden condemned the attack as "despicable" and pledged retaliation at a suitable time. The U.S. began retaliatory strikes on 2 February, hitting sites in Iraq and Syria. Iran denied any involvement in the attack.
Between the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel and 27 January 2024, Iran-backed groups launched missiles and rockets at US and coalition forces in the Middle East on 160 occasions. In these attacks, about 70 US and coalition soldiers sustained mostly minor injuries. The U.S. had retaliated for these incidents eight times.
About 3,000 US troops were stationed in Jordan at the time. The Tower 22 outpost, established as a Jordanian border outpost, had since 2015 been used by US troops in an "advise and assist" mission, initially training rebels fighting the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and later aiding Kurds fighting the Islamic State. Tower 22, which hosts American engineering, aviation, logistics and security personnel, lies 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Al-Tanf garrison in Syria, where US and local forces collaborate in combating the Islamic State. As of 2020, Tower 22 had an operating AN/TPS-75 transportable 3D air search radar. At the time of the attack, there were about 350 personnel from the US Army and Air Force at Tower 22, including personnel from the Arizona National Guard's 158th Infantry Regiment, the California National Guard's 40th Infantry Division, the Kentucky National Guard's 138th Field Artillery Brigade, and the New York National Guard's 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion.
An exploding drone struck the outpost's living quarters, killing three American service members who were asleep in tents at the time. They were subsequently identified as belonging to the 926th Engineer Brigade's 718th Engineer Company, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based at Fort Moore, Georgia. The one man and two women killed were as Sgt. William Rivers, 46; Specialist Kennedy Sanders, 24; and Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23; all Georgia natives.
At least 47 others were injured in the attack, eight of whom had to be medically evacuated outside Jordan, to the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center in Iraq. Of these eight, three were transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for follow-up care. U.S. personnel were evaluated for possible traumatic brain injury. Most of the injured served in the US National Guard and belonged to units based in Arizona, California, Kentucky and New York. By 31 January, at least 27 service personnel were able to report back to duty.
The failure of air defenses to intercept the drone was a key focus of the subsequent U.S. Central Command investigation of the attack. A U.S. preliminary report found that the hostile drone attacked around the same time an American surveillance drone was returning to the base, which likely led to confusion over whether it was an enemy drone and delayed a response.
In the aftermath of the attack, U.S. officials assessed that one of several Iranian-supported groups had launched the attack, although it did not specifically identify the precise group responsible. A US official indicated that a Shahed drone was used in the attack, and a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense said that the attack had the "footprints" of Kata'ib Hezbollah.