‘IRAQ AT RISK OF BEING DRAWN INTO AFTER IRAN-BACKED GROUPS ATTACK
▶ American troops in Middle East have been under almost daily attack
Several US personnel and a member of Iraq’s security forces were wounded in a missile attack on Ain Al Asad airbase, west of Baghdad, the US military said.
Saturday’s strike on the US base in Anbar province, which mainly houses Iraqi forces, is the largest attack of its kind on US troops since Iran struck the base in 2020 in retaliation for the assassination of Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani close to the Iraqi capital.
Iran-backed militant groups fired a number of missiles and rockets from inside Iraq at about 6.30pm local time, the US military said.
“The air defence systems in the base intercepted most of the missiles, while others landed in the base,” it said.
US forces did not confirm the extent of any injuries but said personnel were being evaluated for “head injuries”, while “damage assessments are continuing”.
Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October, the US military has come under attack at least 58 times in Iraq and 83 times in Syria by militants, usually with rockets and drones.
The militants are seeking to impose a cost on the US for its support of Israel against the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas.
On Monday, Iran struck Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, with missiles in what it said was an attack on Israeli spy headquarters, a claim denied by Iraqi and Iraqi-Kurdish officials. The strikes, Iran said, were in retaliation for attacks inside Iran and an assassination of four senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps advisers in Syria.
Five civilians, including two children, were killed in the missile strike in Erbil, Iraqi authorities said.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, UN special representative to Iraq, on Saturday appealed to all sides to exercise maximum restraint.
“The Middle East is at a critical juncture, with the conflict raging in Gaza and armed action elsewhere threatening a major conflagration,” Ms Hennis-Plasschaert said.
“Iraq is at risk of being drawn even further into this conflict.”
These attacks, she said, “stand to undo the hard-won stability of the country and the achievements it has made in recent years”.
The Iraqi government is deeply concerned about its country becoming a battleground for fighting between the US, Israel and Iran.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani announced moves to evict US forces after the escalation between them and Tehran-allied Shiite militias. More than a dozen fighters, including a senior militia leader, have been killed in US strikes.
The Pentagon said it has not been formally notified of any plans to end US troop presence in the country and said its forces are there at the invitation of the government.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which in 2014 seized large parts of both those countries before being defeated.