The China Mail - What we know about the race to rescue downed US airman in Iran

The facts remain shrouded in the fog of war, while social media was immediately flooded with misleading or fake images.

Here is what we know based on public statements and media reports:

- Who is the airman ? -

Almost nothing is known about his identity, but he was named as a "crew member officer" by US President Donald Trump, meaning he was the weapons system operator aboard the advanced F-15E fighter jet which was shot down last Friday.

The pilot was said by Trump to have been rescued by special forces in daylight on Friday after the crash in the rugged Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province of southwest Iran.

US aviators undergo so-called SERE training in the event they have to eject over hostile territory -- Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.

They wear a combat vest which contains a radio/GPS-coded beacon to transmit their position, while they also carry water, food, first-aid material and a pistol in order to survive.

The airman was wounded after his ejection but could still walk, according to news outlet Axios, which cited a US official.

Trump initially wrote on Sunday that he "will be fine" while later adding he was "seriously wounded."

- How did the rescue mission unfold? -

Iranian authorities had immediately urged local people and tribesmen to join security forces in searching for the airman last Friday, realising the potential political and military value of capturing him alive.

That had sparked a race over the weekend in mountainous terrain, with images posted on social media of US aircraft and helicopters flying low over Iran as part of search-and-rescue operations.

The airman managed to keep himself hidden and at one point hiked up a 2,100-metre (7,000-foot) ridgeline, according to The New York Times.

The US intelligence agency the CIA helping to locate him and launched a "deception campaign" aimed at convincing Iranian authorities that he had already been found, the newspaper added.

Axios cited an official who said the airman had been "inside a mountain crevice, invisible but for (the) CIA's capabilities."

The extraction operation launched Sunday involved "dozens of aircraft", according to Trump, and hundreds of special operations troops, including Navy SEAL Team 6 commandos, US media reports said.

The Navy commandos, best-known for taking part in the 2011 operation to kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, were tasked with extracting the airman, while US attack aircraft provided cover, the New York Times added, citing unnamed officials.

The airman was rescued as Iranian forces converged on the spot, with US forces firing their weapons to keep them at bay, reports say.

Trump claimed no American lives were lost.

- What does Iran say? -

Iran's military claims the US operation was "completely foiled", but has not given a full account of events.

Military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state media that US forces had used an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province, which lies to the northwest of the area where the airman ejected.

He said the aircraft had been taking part in "a deception and escape mission... under the pretext of recovering the pilot of a downed aircraft".

Iranian state media broadcast images of the charred wreckage of what appears to be a plane in a desert area, while officials claimed that two C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters had been destroyed.

In the footage, two charred propellers and engines can be clearly seen.

The Wall Street Journal and other US media, citing unnamed officials, reported that American forces had blown up two C-130s after they became stuck for unknown reasons.

The governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province told Mehr news agency that five people had been killed and seven wounded in the Kuh-e Siah area in an attack.

But the governor, Iraj Kazemijou, said reports that US forces had landed there were "completely false and have no validity".

Iranian media likened the rescue operation to the US military's disastrous Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, an attempt to rescue more than 50 Americans at the US embassy in Tehran.

A US A-10 ground attack aircraft was also reportedly downed on Friday, with US media saying the pilot managed to eject and was rescued in nearby Kuwait.

In his message on Sunday, Trump also referred to another operation inside Iran to rescue "another brave pilot ... which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation."

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A.Sun--ThChM