Prince Faisal Air Base shooting
| Prince Faisal Air Base shooting | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Belligerents | |||
 Jordan ^ |
 United States ^ | ||
| Units involved | |||
|
Royal Jordanian Air Force |
5th Special Forces Group[1] | ||
| Strength | |||
|
1 Jordanian soldier[2] 11 Jordanian soldiers (present)[3] | 4 US Special Forces[1][2] | ||
| Casualties and losses | |||
| 1 critically wounded[4] | 3 killed[4][1][2] | ||
| murder | |||
The Prince Faisal Airbase shooting at Prince Faisal bin Hussein Air Base in Al-Jafr, Jordan in 2016 was a deliberate murder of three 3 U.S. Special Forces stationed at the base by a Jordanian soldier, also stationed there.
The Jordanian government formally charged the guard with murder and intent to kill, and he was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor in July 2017.[2]
Background
The United States Army has a 2,000 trainee presence within the Kingdom of Jordan.
Action of November 4, 2016
On the night of November 4, 2016, a returning US Humvee was fired upon as it approached the gates to Prince Faisal airbase, a Jordanian military training center. The lead vehicle cleared through the gate, but as the second vehicle approached, Jordanian Air Force Sgt. M'aarek Abu Tayeh (alt:al-Tuwayha), opened fire with a rifle from his camouflaged concrete guard shaft hitting the two occupants inside and killing them both. Two US soldiers leaped from other vehicles in the convoy to take cover behind a concrete blast wall. The soldiers called to the guard in both English and Arabic that they were friendly forces but he allegedly continued to shoot. The Jordanian NCO wearing body armor and wielding his assault rifle left his guard shaft to charge at the US soldiers, firing several bursts into one of them. A surviving fourth US soldier fired back at the guard with his pistol, hitting him several times. The 3 US Green Berets; Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen (3rd Battalion), Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe (3rd Battalion) and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty (1st Battalion) of the 5th Special Forces Group were shot and killed and Jordanian officer Abu Tayeh critically wounded in an induced coma.[4][1][5]
Investigation
Because of the lack of perceived threat and Jordan's status as an American ally, the US service members were traveling in unarmored vehicles, not wearing body armor and only carrying sidearms. The intelligence report on the incident recommends US forces in the future use armored vehicles and carry at least one rifle with them.[2]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an investigation into the cause of the shooting.[6] Initially, the Jordanian military attributed the cause of the shooting to a case of friendly fire and insisted the US convoy did not heed orders from the Jordanian guard to stop. The American investigation stated that the shooting appeared to be deliberate. The FBI has investigated the Jordanian guard for links to religious extremism and or/ISIS, though no links have been found.[1] After reviewing video footage, the Jordanian military and King Abdullah II agreed that the US convoy complied with "established procedures at the base" and that the soldiers "did nothing to instigate the attack".[2]
1st Sgt. Marik al-Tuwayha was charged with murder for the attack, and has plead "not guilty".[7]
Trial and conviction
Al-Tuwayha was convicted by a Jordanian court of murder and sentenced to life in prison.[8]
Doubts about Jordanian investigation and trial
Security camera footage, not shown at trial or released to the media or to the public, but was shown to American investigators and to the families of the deceased, is described as showing that the shooting was of six minutes duration and shows perpetrator reloading and shooting at the American troops who are shown waving their hands and shouting: "We're Americans! We're friendly."[8]
According to ABC News, convicted murderers sentenced to life in prison in Jordan are often released after twenty years, as with the case of the Jordanian soldier convicted and sentenced to life for the 1997 Island of Peace massacre who was released in 2017.[8]
CIA program
At the time, the slain US Special Forces were on a Central Intelligence Agency mission to arm opposition fighters in Syria.[4]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 https://www.facebook.com/joby.warrick; https://www.facebook.com/tgibbonsneff. "Investigators: Killing of 3 U.S. soldiers in Jordan appears to have been deliberate". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Browne, Ryan. "Jordanian soldier charged with killing 3 US soldiers". CNN. Retrieved 2017-06-05.
- ↑
- 1 2 3 4 "Army Special Forces soldiers killed in Jordan were working for the CIA". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
- ↑ OMelveny, Sean. "Fathers of Slain Green Berets Accuse Jordanian of Murder". Military.com. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
- ↑ CNN, Barbara Starr, Jomana Karadsheh and Eugene Scott. "US officials probe possible terror motive in Jordan attack". CNN. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
- ↑ Laub, Karin; Saad, Reem (June 19, 2017). "Witnesses describe Jordan shooting that killed 3 US troops". Army Times.
The defendant, 1st Sgt. Marik al-Tuwayha, allegedly opened fire on the convoy as it waited to enter the base, killing the U.S. Army Green Berets.
- 1 2 3 Saad, Reem (17 July 2017). "Jordanian soldier sentenced to life for killing 3 US troops". ABC News. Retrieved 17 July 2017.