IRAN PROXIES ATTACK US FORCES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

American troops injured in missile attack on US forces at Al-Asad airbase in Iraq as Middle East tensions escalate

Iran-backed 'Islamic Resistance in Iraq' claimed responsibility for the attack. Missile attacks throughout the region on Saturday raised tensions 

 

By Keith Griffith  

 

Daily Mail

Jan 20, 2024

 

US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq 's security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday 

 

US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq's security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday, a U.S. official said, citing initial assessments.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said initial reports indicated that the base was hit by ballistic missiles, but left open the possibility the base was hit by rockets, adding an assessment was ongoing.

The so-called 'Islamic Resistance in Iraq', an umbrella group for Iranian-backed proxy militia forces, claimed responsibility for the attack. 

It came as separate missile attacks on Saturday in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen threw into sharp focus the increasing risk of the war in Gaza triggering a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States.

Iran said five of its Revolutionary Guards were killed in a missile strike on a house in Damascus for which it blamed Israel, and security sources in Lebanon said an Israeli strike there killed a member of Hezbollah.

 

Ain al-Asad air base is seen above in 2020. The so-called 'Islamic Resistance in Iraq', an umbrella group for Iranian-backed proxy militia forces, claimed responsibility for the attack

 

The United States also said it had targeted and destroyed another missile the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen was aiming into the Red Sea on Saturday, which it called a threat to shipping.

The conflict in Gaza began on October 7 when Hamas fighters stormed border defenses to attack Israeli bases and towns, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages.

Hamas is part of Iran's 'Axis of Resistance', a regional alliance that also includes Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq and the Houthis who control much of Yemen.

Israel's intense bombardment of Gaza since Oct. 7, which health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave say has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, quickly triggered border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

Over the past three months Israel has also repeatedly struck at Iranian targets in Syria, while Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iraq have fired at U.S. targets in those countries.

Aside from Gaza, the theatre of conflict with the widest international repercussions has been the Red Sea, where the Houthis have repeatedly targeted shipping they say is bound for or linked to Israel, hitting global trade as some companies avoid the key waterway.

US and British strikes over the past week have targeted Houthi forces in Yemen.

Regional and Iranian sources say Iran and Hezbollah have personnel in Yemen helping direct attacks on shipping, though the Houthis have denied that.

 

A picture taken on January 13, 2020 shows a member the US forces walking past a drone in the Ain al-Asad airbase in the western Iraqi province of Anbar

 

The United States has about 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and nearly 900 in Syria supporting a coalition dedicated to wiping out remnants of Islamic State.

Since the end of 2021, the coalition in Iraq said it halted all combat mission and is stationed on Iraqi military bases purely in and advisory and training capacity.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani on Thursday repeated his call for the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition to depart his country amid soaring regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

'The end of the international coalition mission is a necessity for the security and stability of Iraq,' he said during a televised event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

'It is also a necessity for preserving constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and the coalition countries.'

Sudani, whose government relies on the support of Iran-aligned parties, has repeatedly said in recent weeks he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq.

His remarks came after the United States carried out strikes on pro-Iran groups in response to attacks since mid-October on American and other coalition forces deployed in Iraq since 2014 in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

At least 130 attacks, including 53 in Iraq and 77 in Syria, were recorded between October 17 and January 11, according to the Pentagon.