Nobody paid much attention to the semi-secret U.S. military outpost called “Tower 22” in northeastern Jordan. Now that three American servicemen were killed in a violent drone attack, which injured around 34 others, things are heating up significantly. Tensions have been flaring across the chronically unstable Middle-East and this incident could stoke them up into a full scale war.
Tower 22 attacked
Goat humping terrorists used drones to successfully attack Tower 22, in northeastern Jordan, on January 28. It’s not a secret base but Jordan “initially denied” the base “existed within its border” after the attack.
That’s because “the U.S. presence in Jordan risks angering a population that’s already held mass demonstrations against Israel.” They take the side of Hamas and “widespread unrest could threaten the rule of King Abdullah II, a key American ally.” That’s not good.
Originally set up by Jordan as a border security outpost, when U.S. forces started operations in Syria back in 2015, Tower 22 became heavily fortified with American troops.
3 US Soldiers were killed in Jordan at Tower 22 by drone by Iran.
2 US Navy Seals died in the Gulf of Aden.
British tanker “Marlin Luanda” hit by Houthis in Gulf of Aden was recused by Indian Navy
Not before Biden. We need the Trump White House back.
pic.twitter.com/Gf4UQ3SoJr— Southern FFA Family (@FFAFamily) January 28, 2024
Now that American troops were killed and injured, the “little-discussed U.S. military desert outpost” has “become the focus of international attention.”
Tower 22 “sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria along a sandy, bulldozed berm marking the DMZ’s southern edge.” it’s especially scenic because “The Iraqi border is only 10 kilometers (6 miles) away.” They call that stretch of barren desert Rukban.
The only reason it ever became noticeably different than all the other barren desert around it is because it “once saw a refugee camp spring up on the Syrian side over the rise of the Islamic State group’s so-called caliphate in 2014.” ISIS took a licking but they’re still ticking.
Concerns about infiltration
Things aren’t nearly as exciting now at Tower 22 as they used to be, except for the drone attacks. “At its height, over 100,000 people lived there, blocked by Jordan from coming across into the kingdom at the time over concerns about infiltration by the extremist group.”
They were particularly concerned about “a 2016 car bomb attack there that killed seven Jordanian border guards.”
Since then, the camp population “dwindled” down to around 7,500 people. Mostly because Amazon won’t deliver to rural locations.
PENTAGON: Army Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett were killed in the strike on the small northeast Jordan base known as Tower 22.https://t.co/YqxLw5rtjs pic.twitter.com/Ty06ynKNur
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) January 29, 2024
Tower 22 became as deserted as the landscape “because of a lack of supplies reaching there.” That stretch of border requires a close eye.
Even though it’s a “small” installation, the U.S. posts “engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops with about 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel deployed there.” Officially, the location of the base “offers a site for American forces to infiltrate and quietly leave Syria.” Reinforcements are available but not real close.
“A small American garrison at al-Tanf in Syria is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tower 22. That base is along a Syrian highway leading into Iraq and ultimately Mosul, once a prominent base of the Islamic State group.” Not only that, “it’s also a potential weapons shipment route over the road for Iran.“
