US airbase in Iraq comes under rocket fire, wounded
Kyiv • UNN
A US air base in Iraq was attacked by rockets, leaving US servicemen lightly injured and an Iraqi security officer seriously wounded. The attack is believed to have been carried out by militants from Iraq amid growing tensions between US-backed Israel and Hamas.
US soldiers were lightly injured and an Iraqi security officer was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq's Ain al-Assad air base, Reuters reports, citing a US official, UNN reports .
Details
Preliminarily, the US base was hit by ballistic missiles, but, according to an anonymous official, the situation is still being assessed.
Two Iraqi security sources and one government source said the base was hit by several missiles fired from inside Iraq.
Another US official said the attack was carried out by militants from Iraq.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, the US military has been attacked at least 58 times in Iraq and 83 times in Syria by Iranian-backed militants, usually with unilateral missiles and drones.
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The militants are seeking to make the United States pay for Israel's support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State, which seized large parts of both countries in 2014 before being defeated.
Iraq is deeply concerned that it could become a battleground between the United States, Israel, and Iran.
