US military unwanted in Iraq
Rocket attack on US-run military base in Iraq
January 20, 2024, 5:53 p.m
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Attacks on joint Iraqi and American military bases have also increased since October 7th. US security circles are now reporting that one person was injured in another rocket attack.
According to security sources, around a dozen rockets were fired at a base of the US-led international military coalition in western Iraq. Multiple ballistic missiles hit the Ain al-Assad air base in Al-Anbar province, a U.S. military and Iraqi police official said.
An “initial assessment of the damage” is still ongoing, said the US military representative. However, according to preliminary information, a member of the Iraqi security forces was seriously injured. At the beginning of 2019, the base was attacked by Iran in retaliation for the murder of General Solemeini. Since the war between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas began on October 7th, attacks on bases used by the US army in Iraq and Syria have increased significantly.
Are Islamists behind the attacks?
The US military has recorded more than a hundred such attacks since mid-October. A group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which Washington says is linked to Iran, claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. Around 2,500 US soldiers are stationed in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria.
The US-led international military coalition in these countries was founded in 2014 to push back the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS). At the beginning of January, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for an end to the international military coalition’s deployment in his country.