US fighters mistook foe for friendly
The weekend drone attack that killed three US service members in Jordan occurred when American air defenses confused the enemy aircraft with a friendly one coming in at the same time, a report said Monday.
The drone launched by Iranbacked militants approached a small US-allied outpost near Jordan’s border with Syria Saturday just as an American drone was returning to the base — causing confusion among staff there and a crucial delay in trying to shoot down the enemy device, unidentified military officials told The Wall Street Journal Monday.
The terrorists’ drone struck soldiers’ living quarters, killing three American troops and leaving at least 34 others injured.
“I believe it was pretty early morning, so people were actually in their beds when the drone impacted,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters at a briefing Monday. “[US] Central Command is looking into what can be done when it comes to our air defenses and . . . to determine how best we can move or how fast we can further strengthen our air defense systems.”
The rep insisted that the site was no less protected than other regional bases that have been recently attacked — without fatalities.
There have now been 165 attacks on US forces — 66 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and the one in Jordan Saturday — since Oct. 17, Singh said. In addition to the three Americans slain in Jordan, about 80 US service members have received nonserious injuries in those assaults, she said.
President Biden said the attack was launched by “radical Iranbacked militant groups operating in Syria and Iran” — and a Telegram channel used by proIranian terrorist groups later claimed the assault was in retaliation for a US strike in the south of Baghdad a few days before in which two terrorists were killed, according to the Journal.
The perpetrators of Saturday’s attack were likely supported by Kataib Hezbollah, one of Iran’s main militia allies based in Iraq, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN Monday.
He said Biden would respond “in a time and manner of his own choosing” and “in a very consequential way.
“We don’t want to see these attacks continue,” Kirby said.