He rescue of the colonel who was piloting an F-15 plane of the United States military forces that was shot down last friday The south of Iran will be enough for a movie or television series. As is becoming usual, the American president himself, Donald Trump, was in charge of announcing on social networks this Sunday that the military forces had rescued the pilot after spending two days tracking him through a mountainous area in a race against time against Iranian troops, who also wanted to capture him.
Controlled location
Trump claims that the airman’s location was being monitored “24 hours a day” by senior US officials who were planning the rescue operation and that he was eventually located “behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being pursued by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour.”
The president points out that his army sent dozens of planes to Iran and assured that the operation was carried out without any Americans being killed or injured. As US authorities explained to CBS News, The pilot spent more than 24 hours alone, hiding in the mountains with a gun. He may have been injured after being ejected from the plane when he was hit.
Clashes in the rescue
The rescue mission was carried out with drones and helicopters flying at low altitude to locate the pilot. According to Iranian media, there were clashes during the operation and troops from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down a US drone while searching for the missing airman. Specifically, the semi-official Fars news agency highlights that the American drone crashed in the province of Isfahan, southern Iran. Earlier, Iran had stated that it wanted to find the missing soldier alive and had offered a reward to citizens who helped find him.
The CIA enters the scene
A senior US official also told CBS that the CIA played a crucial role in the rescue mission by tracking the airman in a mountain crevice and relaying his exact location to the Pentagon. The agency reportedly carried out a deception campaign inside Iran. While the rescue attempt was underway, the agency spread a rumor that the airman had already been found and was being evacuated from Iran.
Where and when was the plane shot down?
Although the exact location where the F-15 was allegedly shot down is unknown, Iranian state media mentioned two possible provinces: Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, and Khuzestan. It was last Friday. There were two pilots on the plane who ejected. One of them was quickly rescued by US troops while the other was located this Sunday.
According to US authorities, an A-10 Warthog plane that was hit over the Persian Gulf was also recovered in this operation, whose pilot ejected before being rescued. The helicopter carrying the first pilot rescued from the F-15E aircraft was also hit by light weapons fire. Some crew members were injured but were able to land safely.
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