One dead in rocket attack on Iraq base hosting US troops
Pope says he must go to Iraq because people cannot be let down and asked for prayers so that the visit ‘can take place in the best possible way and bring about the desired fruits’
At least 10 rockets slammed into a military base in western Iraq hosting Us-led coalition troops on Wednesday, security sources said, leaving one civilian contractor dead.
The atack on the sprawling Ain Al Assad base in Iraq’s western desert comes ater several weeks of escalating Us-iran tensions on Iraqi soil.
It also comes just two days before the first papal visit to the country by Pope Francis.
Pope Francis said on Wednesday he is going to Iraq, where his predecessor John Paul was not allowed to go in 2000, because “the people cannot be let down for a second time.”
Speaking at the end of his general audience, Francis, who is due to start the risky trip in Baghdad on Friday, asked for prayers so that the visit “can take place in the best possible way and bring about the desired fruits.”
“For some time I have wanted to meet that people who suffered so much, and meet that martyred Church,” Francis said.
“The people of Iraq are waiting for us. They were waiting for St. Pope John Paul II, who was not allowed to go. The people cannot be let down for a second time. Let us pray that this trip can be carried out well,” he said.
“In the land of Abraham, together with other religious leaders, we also will take another step forward in fraternity among believers,” Francis said.
Ain Al Assad hosts both Iraqi forces and USled coalition troops helping fight the Daesh, as well as the unmanned drones the coalition uses to surveil extremist sleeper cells.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Maroto confirmed that 10 rockets hit the base at 7:20 am (0420 GMT) while Iraqi security forces said they had found the plaform from which 10 “Grad-type rockets” hit the Assad base.
Western security sources told AFP the rockets were Iranian-made Arash models, which are 122mm artillery rockets and heavier than those seen in similar atacks.
“One civilian contractor died of a heart atack during the atack,” a high-level security source told AFP, adding that he could not confirm the contractor’s nationality.
The death marks the third fatality in rocket atacks in recent weeks, ater rockets targeting Us-led troops in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil let two people dead.
Days later, more rockets hit a US military contracting company working north of the capital and the US embassy in Baghdad, but only injuries were reported.
In response, the US carried out an air strike on Feb.26 against Kataeb Hizbollah, an Iranianbacked Iraqi paramilitary force stationed along the Iraqi-syrian border.
Washington says it struck on the Syrian side of the border but Kataeb claims one of its fighters who was killed in the bombardment was protecting “Iraqi territory.” Analysts have pointed to both domestic and international reasons for the sudden rise in tensions.
Hardline Iraqi groups have an interest in ramping up the pressure on Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi following his pledges to rein in rogue militias.
They may also carry a message from Tehran to Washington, which under US President Joe Biden is offering to revive the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018. Iran is demanding the US lit sanctions immediately, while the US wants Iran to move first by returning to previous nuclear commitments.
Tensions between the two rivals peaked in January 2020, following a US drone strike on Baghdad airport that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis.
In response, Iran launched ballistic missiles on Ain Al Assad and Arbil, wounding dozens.
Over the next 10 months, dozens of rockets and roadside bombs targeted Western security, military and diplomatic sites across Iraq — some of them deadly.
Iraqi and Western officials have blamed hardline pro-iran factions, some of which have established “front groups” to avoid being directly accused of violence.
Last year’s atacks came to a near-complete halt in October following a truce with the hardliners, but they have resumed at a quickening pace over the past three weeks.