Ten rockets were fired at an Iraqi military base hosting U.S.-led union soldiers Wednesday, the current in a series of rocket attacks in Iraq with this one simply days prior to the Pope is because of check out the nation.
The rockets targeted Ain Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, at 7: 20 a.m. regional time Wednesday (11: 20 p.m. Tuesday ET). The attack was validated in a tweet from Col. Wayne Marotto, the military spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve, the 83-member union to beat ISIS.
Iraqi security forces are leading the reaction and examination, he included.
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Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji of the Iraqi security forces informed NBC News that the attack occurred at 7: 30 a.m. regional time (11: 30 p.m. ET) which there were no casualties or damages reported at the base. Security forces were examining who lagged the attack, he included.
Wednesday’s rocket attack follows a U.S. airstrike recently in eastern Syria that eliminated one fighter in an Iranian-backed militia and injured 2 others, according to the Pentagon.
That operation was the very first recognized usage of military force by the Biden administration and was performed in retaliation for a fatal rocket attack on a U.S.-led union base in Irbil in Kurdish northern Iraq last month, along with 2 other attacks.
The rocket attack in Irbil on Feb. 15 was the most fatal attack to strike U.S.-led forces in the nation for nearly a year, and brought echoes of another attack in December 2019 that activated a harmful escalation in between Iran and the United States.
The newest attack might stir worries of a repeat of in 2015’s tit-for-tat escalation, that culminated in the U.S. assassination of top Iranian basic Qassem Soleimani in Iraq last January.
Iran struck back less than a week later on by shooting rockets at American soldiers in Iraq, hurting lots of U.S. service members who suffered terrible brain injury. Ain al-Asad airbase was among 2 bases targeted by Iran.
NBC News had actually formerly reported that Iranian-backed militias were more than likely behind the Irbil rocket attack in February, which the weapons and strategies looked like previous attacks by the Iranian-connected militias. However, it was uncertain if Iran had actually motivated or bought the rocket attack.
Following the attack on the Irbil base last month, Iraq’s Balad air base came under rocket fire days later on, where a U.S. defense company services the nation’s fighter jets, and after that 2 rockets landed near the U.S. Embassy substance in Baghdad.
The newest rocket attack comes 2 days prior to Pope Francis is because of take a trip to Iraq in what would be the first-ever papal see to the Middle Eastern nation.
Francis had actually meant to check out Iraq in 2014, as did St. John Paul II in 2000, however both needed to abort their journeys due to security issues, according to The Associated Press.
