Drone Attack in Jordan

• Context (IE): US military servicemen were killed in a drone attack on their outpost in Jordan.
• The strikes targeted Tower 22, a US military outpost (a smaller version of a military base) in Jordan.

Tower 22

• Tower 22 (Jordan) is near the Al Tanf garrison (Syria) of the US troops.
• It is located near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria.
• The Iraqi border is only 10 kilometres (6 miles) near Rukban region.
• Rukban is an arid, remote area in northeast Jordan adjacent to the Jordan–Syria border and close to the tripoint with Iraq.
• Radical Iran-backed militant groups, Islamic Resistance of Iraq (IRI), operating in Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the strikes.

Jordan

• Jordan is bordered by Israel to its west, Saudi Arabia to its southeast, Iraq to its northeast and Syria to its north.

US Army in Jordan

• Jordan’s army is one of the largest recipients of the US’s foreign military financing.
• The US Army was stationed during the Syrian civil war in the early 2010s.

The Syrian civil war broke out in the early 2010s when a section of Syrians attempted to dislodge President Bashar al-Assad from power. US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc., backed rebels, and Russia and Iran backed the Assad regime. The period of instability led to the rise of ISIS in the region.

Islamic Resistance of Iraq

• “Islamic Resistance of Iraq” is believed to be a front for Iranian-backed factions within an umbrella of militias known as Hashd al-Shaabi.
• These groups back Iran as part of an anti-Western and anti-USA stance.
• Earlier, it claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Harir Air Base in Iraqi Kurdistan.