What is Tower 22 – the secret US base at centre of Iran-backed drone attacks?
OVERLOOKING a refugee camp housing 15,000 people in northern Jordan, the secret outpost of Tower 22 on the border with Iraq and Syria has long been strategically important to the US.
Little is publicly known about the military base, but its location just 12 miles from the better known Al-tanf US garrison in south-eastern Syria suggests it provides logistical support – as well as border security for Jordan.
Officially, the Jordanian government does not even acknowledge Tower 22’s existence. Yet Al-tanf has been a key US base in the fight against the remnants of the Islamic State group (IS) in the region and targeted by militia groups. Until Sunday’s drone attack, Tower 22 had not warranted the same attention.
The killing of three US service personnel has changed that status – even though a Jordanian official publicly claimed that it happened in Syria – and dragged the fight with Iran-backed militants in Syria and Iraq across the border into Jordan.
As well as being just across the border from Tower 22, Al-tanf garrison is also located on a vital road in south-eastern Syria that can link Iranian-backed forces from Tehran all the way to southern Lebanon – and Israel’s doorstep.
Syria’s civil war threatened Iran’s hold on this key route. IS took control of the border region at first but were later flushed out by Us-backed forces and Iran-backed militias. The latter won the race to secure the area.
Now, the US base enables troops to disrupt what could otherwise be an uncontested land bridge linking Iran to the eastern Mediterranean.
About 350 US army and air force troops are thought to be stationed at Tower 22 – specialising in engineering, aviation, security and logistics – but it is unclear what type of weapons are kept there or the strength of its defences.
Dozens more US military personnel were injured in Sunday’s attack, responsibility for which was claimed by the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
After the fall of IS in 2019, US troops in Jordan have assumed a role as part of a wider strategy to contain Iran’s military build-up in eastern Syria.
Jordan’s army is one of the largest recipients of Washington’s foreign military funding. The kingdom benefits from hundreds of US military trainers and also holds regular, extensive exercises with US troops.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Washington has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help Amman set up an elaborate surveillance system known as the Border Security Programme, targeted at curtailing militants based in Syria and Iraq.
The level of casualties from the Tower 22 attack has increased domestic pressure on Joe Biden’s administration to respond forcefully to the Iran-backed militias, but also to rethink the US military’s presence in the region.
In December, Rand Paul, a Republican senator, won backing from 12 colleagues in support of a motion to withdraw US troops from activities “in or affecting Syria” that was ultimately defeated.
The military presence is designed to prevent any comeback by IS, which swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, taking control of large areas of territory.
For years, the US and its coalition allies battled IS in Iraq and Syria, partnering with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
By 2019, the US declared that the terror group had been destroyed, but remnants of it remain a threat, including about 10,000 fighters in detention facilities in Syria and tens of thousands of their family members in refugee camps.
US forces are involved in advising and assisting the SDF. They also conduct counter-terror missions against IS and carry out strikes on Iran-backed militias that have attacked US bases in the region.
The threat of Iran is another reason why the US is active in Syria. The presence of American forces in Syria makes it more difficult for Iran to move weapons into Lebanon for use by its proxies.