US strategic positioning, Tower 22, hit by Iran-backed militant groups

By Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu and Esref Musa

IDLIB (AA) - The US base, Tower 22, was attacked by a UAV by Iran-backed militant groups at the Syria-Iraq-Jordan triangle, which is located very close to the Al-Tanf, a base within Syrian territory.

Anadolu correspondents compiled information about Tower 22, where an attack was carried out against US forces. Located at the northeastern tip of Jordan, strategically important Tower 22 is situated on the border with Syria and Iraq.

The US base in Jordan is used to provide logistical support to some opposition groups in Al-Tanf within Syria and to other US bases in the north to counter Iran's activities in the region.

The base includes hundreds of US troops, as well as attack, transport, and training helicopters and armored military vehicles.

Tower 22, which is not well-known and gained attention due to its proximity to the Al-Tanf base, was established under the name "Fight against Daesh" by the US-led international coalition forces in 2016.

The US conducts intelligence activities from the Al-Tanf base to limit Iran's military activities supporting the Syrian regime. Tower 22 aims to protect the Al-Tanf base from within the borders of Jordan.

There is a 22-kilometer distance between Tower 22 in Jordan and the Al-Tanf base in Syria.

While it is known that there are about 200 US soldiers in the Al-Tanf base, there is no precise data on the number of US soldiers stationed at Tower 22.

The US, with surveillance balloons removed from the expanded Al-Tanf base in 2017 and 2018, monitors the military activities of Iran-supported groups in the hundreds of kilometers between the Jordanian border and the Euphrates River.

From the Al-Tanf base, logistical support materials are delivered by air through Jordan to other US bases in areas occupied by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization in Syria.

Al-Tanf base, occasionally subject to attacks by Iran-supported groups, includes not only heavy weapons but also helicopter runways.

As part of a program, the Free Syrian Army, a US-backed Syrian opposition group, frequently receives military training at the Al-Tanf base.

The base has seven buildings belonging to US soldiers, three hangars for camouflaging and protecting surveillance balloons, and soldiers from the UK, France, and the Netherlands are also stationed there.

Three US service members were killed and 28 injured this weekend in an attack on the Al-Tanf US military base near the Jordanian-Syrian border, American and Jordanian officials said Sunday.

"On Jan. 28, three US service members were killed and 25 injured from a one-way attack UAS (drone) that impacted at a base in northeast Jordan, near the Syria border," the US Central Command said in a press release.

In a statement from the White House, US President Joe Biden said: "Today, America's heart is heavy. Last night, three US service members were killed – and many wounded – during an unmanned aerial drone attack on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border."