US commanders at al-Asad base believe missile barrage was designed to kill Iraq
US commanders at the Iraqi military base targeted by Iranian missiles said yesterday they believe the attack was intended to kill American personnel, an act that could have pushed the two powers closer to outright war.
The missile barrage last week against the sprawling Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq left deep craters and the crumpled wreckage of living quarters and a helicopter launch site. At least two soldiers were thrown through the window of a metres-high tower, and several dozen US troops were later treated for concussion as a result of the missile strikes, military officials on the base said.
‘‘These were designed and organised to inflict as many casualties as possible,’’ said Lieutenant Colonel Tim Garland,
Commander of Task Force Jazeera and one of the most senior officials on the base that day.
He said the strikes were especially perilous because they had come in waves, with up to 15 minutes between each. During those intervals, a rapid response force was repeatedly on the move to assess blast sites and find colleagues who were feared hurt.
The attack lasted more than an hour and a half, commanders said, with explosions illuminating the landscape for miles. In interviews, more than a dozen troops described feeling the air turn warm as light filled the night sky and shock waves ripped through the air.
Lt Col Staci Coleman, who oversees airfield operations, described the absence of serious injuries as ‘‘miraculous.’’
In the hours that followed the attack,
Iran called it ‘‘harsh revenge,’’ saying it had killed dozens. Within a day, however, US and Iraqi officials were reporting that nobody had died.
Accounts from inside the Trump administration have suggested that the absence of fatalities was a crucial factor in the president’s decision not to escalate further. ‘‘All is well!’’ he posted in a tweet hours after the attack. But across Ain al-Asad, the testimony of witnesses and damage in several areas seemed to indicate that the lack of serious casualties was at least partly due to luck. With tensions running high early last week after the US killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, the al-Asad base had already been on high alert, expecting more of the kind of rocket attacks that have targeted US-led coalition and Iraqi forces across Iraq for months. – Washington