As conflict intensifies in the Middle East, U.S. soldiers were slightly injured in an attack on Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq on Saturday. According to reports.
US defense forces and Iraqi police officials he told AFP. At least a dozen missiles were fired at the base, which houses U.S. and other international troops stationed in Iraq.
“Al-Asad Air Base was targeted by 15 rockets,” an Iraqi police official said, adding that the attack was carried out from within Anbar province in southwestern Iraq, where the base is located.
A police source added that 13 of the projectiles were shot down, but “two fell on the air base.”
A US defense official confirmed that “a missile impacted Al Asad Air Base” and that a damage assessment was underway.
The identities of the injured were not immediately known.
The Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement, a loose coalition of Iranian-backed militias opposed to US support for Israel in its war with Hamas, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, AFP reported.
In addition to the injuries to U.S. military personnel, Saturday's attack also seriously injured members of the Iraqi security forces, U.S. officials said.
Saturday's attack came amid a barrage of attacks on Iranian-linked targets across the Middle East on Saturday, as tensions continue to rise in the wake of the Oct. 7 war between Israel and Tehran-backed Hamas.
An Israeli missile attack wiped out five members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, including the head of the elite intelligence unit, according to reports.
Hours later, another drone attack hit a car in the Lebanese city of Tire, killing two Hezbollah members.
Since Oct. 7, Iranian government proxy militias have attacked U.S. forces at least 58 times in Iraq and another 83 times in Syria in retaliation for aiding Israel.
The United States has 900 troops in Syria and another 2,500 in Iraq, advising local forces on how to quell the resurgence of Islamic State. Islamic State succeeded in occupying large swathes of territory in both countries until it was finally defeated in 2014.
The Iraqi government fears it could become a battleground between the United States, Israel and Iran.
After the Iraqi government condemned a US drone strike in Baghdad, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani's office announced that it was proceeding with the process of removing US troops from the country. .
The Pentagon has announced that a drone strike has killed a militia leader behind recent attacks on U.S. service members.
He added that he had not received any official communication from Baghdad that troops were being activated, and that Baghdad was in the country at the invitation of the Iraqi government.
with post wire
