In what President Donald Trump called “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history,” U.S. Special Forces on Sunday made a daring incursion into Iranian territory and rescued the second crew member of a downed F-15 from behind enemy lines.
The rescue of the US airman – a weapons systems officer – came more than a day after Iran’s air defenses shot down an F-15 Strike Eagle jet.
When the plane was hit on Friday, both the pilot and the weapons systems officer ejected, but their fates were different: while the pilot was found shortly after the incident, a crew member remained missing, prompting a frantic search by both the US and Iran.
Now the gritty details of how the US airman survived almost two days behind enemy lines have emerged, with a CNN report giving an inside look at the daring operation.
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Survival behind enemy lines
According to U.S. officials cited in the report, an F-15 crew member was injured while ejecting from the jet, and since his whereabouts were unknown to the U.S. military, the airman hid in a crevasse to avoid detection by Iran, where a reward had been offered for his capture.
He subsequently established contact with the US military, but communication remained sporadic.
With Iranian forces in pursuit, the airman evaded capture for more than a day and was rescued despite carrying minimal equipment and having difficulty communicating. At one point, the downed officer also scaled rugged terrain to a ridge around 7,000 feet above sea level to escape detection by Iranian forces.
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Trump skips golf to focus on bailouts
As the airman evaded capture, Trump administration officials scrambled to find him while the US president made frequent check-ins: Trump reportedly spent Friday in the West Wing, moving between the Oval Office and the adjoining dining room to receive updates on efforts to locate the missing officer.
Trump, who usually heads to Mar-a-Lago on weekends to play golf, skipped his usual activities and stayed at the White House while his administration worked out a plan to find the downed airman.
Later, after the squadron’s rescue, a jubilant Trump declared: “At my direction, the US military sent dozens of planes armed with the deadliest weapons in the world to retrieve him. He was injured, but he will be fine…This is the first time in military memory that two American pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE!”
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How it all came together
While the US military worked to put together an operation to find and rescue the officer, the CIA launched a parallel effort in addition to tasking intelligence agents to spread disinformation in Iran about the rescued airman in an attempt to confuse the pursuing Iranian forces.
Meanwhile, Israel delayed the strikes it had planned to carry out so as not to interfere with American search and rescue efforts. Tel Aviv also reportedly provided intelligence support.
Eventually, the CIA found the missing airman hiding high in the mountains, and the US military swung into action.
Special operations forces were deployed, including the elite Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team 6 that killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, and were able to mount a successful rescue with air support: dozens of aircraft conducted strikes in the area to prevent Iranian forces from reaching the downed airman.
However, the operation was not without setbacks, with the US military losing several aircraft – two MC-130J transport aircraft waiting at a remote airfield in Iran were damaged, prompting US forces to blow up the damaged aircraft to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands.
