Two Rockets Land at Air Base Hosting US Troops in Iraq


Two Rockets Land at Air Base Hosting US Troops in Iraq

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Ain al-Assad Air Base hosting US troops in the western Iraqi province of al-Anbar was hit by a rocket attack on Tuesday, the third such incident to target the American interests in the Arab country in as many days.

The Iraqi army said in a statement on Tuesday that two rockets had landed at the base, but the attack caused no casualties, without giving more details.

The Iraqi TV al-Ahd television channel said rocket sirens had gone off at the sprawling installation.

No earlier than on Monday, at least six rockets hit the al-Balad Airbase that houses US forces and warplanes north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

A day earlier, an airbase similarly housing a United States-led coalition’s forces at Baghdad International Airport came under rocket fire.

The triple back-to-back incidents have not been claimed by any party or individual yet, but the US usually blames such attacks on Iraqi resistance groups.

Enlisting scores of Washington-friendly countries, the coalition waded into Iraq in 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh. It retains its presence there, although on a smaller scale, despite the fact that Baghdad and its allies defeated the Takfiri terrorist group in late 2017.

Last January, the Iraqi parliament overwhelmingly passed a law ordering the withdrawal of all the US-led forces. The legislation was a response to an earlier US drone strike that martyred senior Iranian and Iraqi anti-terror commanders, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad.

The attacks on American targets have grown in number and frequency since the assassinations that largely angered the Iraqis.

Most Visited in World
Top World stories
Top Stories