A U.S. military base stationed in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province was attacked in the middle of the night by kamikaze drones on January 27, 2024.

The sleeping troops of Tower 22 were awakened by humming as a squadron of drones flew in and exploded. This attack killed three and injured more than 40 troops.

According to Popular Mechanics, “Tower 22 is one of many outposts set up by the Pentagon throughout the Middle East to support anti-ISIS operations.”

It is also said that Tower 22 houses aviation facilities and hosts logistics, security, and engineering units. These support a key U.S. special forces base just 12 miles away across the border in at-Tanf, Syria, according to PopularMechanics.com.

There were 350 soldiers at the time of the attack. Reporters say that one-tenth of the camp’s personnel were killed or injured.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023, there have been over 150 attacks on different U.S. bases around Iraq and Syria. This was the first attack since October 7, 2023, that has ended with fatalities.

Today there are 900 troops in bases around Syria and roughly 2500 troops between the Iraq and Syria area, according to Aljazeera.com.

These attacks are being carried out by Iran-backed militant groups named the “Axis of Resistance,” according to usnews.com.

According to Popular Mechanics, “It approached at the same time a U.S. surveillance drone was expected to land, and was thus not engaged by air defenses. It resembles, in a way, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack was spotted by U.S. radars but dismissed by operators as likely being a formation of B-17s that were scheduled to land in Hawaii at the same time. And of course, attacking at night reduces opportunities to visually distinguish a hostile drone from a friendly one.”

Photo Credit: Alptekin Cihangir İsbilir