US boosts air defense in Iraq after wave of rocket attacks
New US Air defense systems were moved to bases in Iraq to protect US and allied forces after a string of recent missile attacks by Iran-backed militias has destabilized the region, US officials told the Associated Press on Friday.
Patriot missiles and two other short-range missile defense systems have been put in place at Ain al-Asad Air base in Iraq, which was hit as retaliation for the killing of IRGC Commander Qasem Soleimani in January.
David Schenker, assistant secretary of Near Eastern Affairs, told reporters in a teleconference on Thursday that the threat to US forces in Iraq from Iranian-backed militias “continues to be significant.”
Iran-backed paramilitary groups have regularly been shelling bases in Iraq that host US forces, and the area around the US embassy in Baghdad.
On Monday, three Katyusha rockets landed near a district in southern Iraq that houses workers of foreign oil companies, including US oil service company Halliburton. No casualties or damage were reported.
Last week, Trump said Iran or its proxies planned a sneak attack on US targets in Iraq, and warned they would pay a “very heavy price” but did not elaborate.
This past week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US proposed a “strategic dialogue” with Iraq to be held in June, a bid to restore strained bilateral ties.
Schenker, who in March said Washington was “enormously disappointed” by Iraq’s performance in protecting US-led coalition forces, repeated Washington’s concerns.
“It is on the Iraqis – if they value that relationship – to take certain steps and that includes providing protection to the coalition forces who are in Iraq if they want those forces to remain,” Schenker said.
On Thursday, Iraq’s president named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as prime minister-designate, the third person tapped to lead Iraq in just 10 weeks as it struggles to replace a government that fell last year after months of deadly protests.
Schenker said of Kadhimi: “If Kadhimi is an Iraqi nationalist, dedicated to pursuing a sovereign Iraq, if he is committed to fighting corruption, this would be great for Iraq, and we think it would be great for our bilateral relationship.”