Attacks hit base as U.S.-Iraq tensions rise
Canadian troops not hurt by militia rockets
OT TAWA • Canadian troops risk being caught in the middle of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iraq, even as the six-year-old fight against the Islamic State group morphs into a geopolitical struggle between Washington and Iran.
The past week has seen a series of rocket attacks by Iranian-backed militias targeting U.S. diplomatic and military facilities. That includes an attack Wednesday against a base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region that is home to American troops and an undisclosed number of Canadian special forces soldiers.
U.S. military officials initially reported that the rockets fired at the coalition base next to Irbil’s main airport did not reach the facility, but later reports suggested several landed inside the compound. The Department of National Defence says no Canadian Armed Forces personnel were hurt.
“The recent attacks on a military base in Irbil did not affect coalition forces,” Defence Department spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said in a statement.
“All CAF members are safe and accounted for and we continue to monitor the situation closely with our allies and partners in the region.”
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan on Thursday voiced his continued support for the Iraq mission, adding: “We are aware of the recent events in Iraq and we are watching for security threats very closely.”
Kurdish authorities quickly blamed the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group composed of mostly Iran-backed Shiite militias that are part of Iraq’s security forces. In response, the PMF released a statement saying it was investigating the incident, according to Kurdish news service Rudaw.
The rocket strike in Irbil came as Canada’s ambassador to Iraq and counterparts from more than a dozen other countries met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to raise concerns about several other attacks on diplomatic missions in the country that have also been attributed to militias loyal to Iran.
“We expressed our deep concern at the rise in the number and sophistication of attacks against diplomatic premises in Iraq, including rocket and (improvised explosive device) attacks,” the envoys said in a joint statement released after the meeting and posted online by Ulric Shannon, Canada’s ambassador to Iraq. “We noted that these attacks endanger not only foreign embassies but also Iraqis, as evidenced by the tragic death of a family near Baghdad International Airport following a rocket strike on Monday.”