Around 10 rockets were fired in western Iraq on Saturday at a military base housing American soldiers and other troops from the international anti-jihadist coalition, an Iraqi police official and an American soldier told AFP.
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“The Ain al-Assad base was attacked by 15 rockets” fired from al-Anbar province, where this Iraqi military base is located, a police official in the region told AFP, “on condition of anonymity.”
He claimed that 13 of the projectiles were shot down by air defense, while “two hit the air base.”
For his part, an American military official confirmed that “missiles” had “hit the Ain al-Assad air base” and assured that “an initial assessment of the damage” was underway, carried out jointly by American forces and those of the international coalition Iraqi officers.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he also reported “preliminary” reports of “a member of the Iraqi security forces who was seriously injured.”
He was initially unable to say anything about the type of ammunition used, having initially spoken of “ballistic missiles”.
The attacks, which were not immediately claimed, come in a volatile regional context fueled by the fallout from the war in Gaza between Israel, an ally of the United States, and the Iranian-backed Palestinian movement Hamas.
On Saturday, five members of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, including two senior officials, were killed in a strike in Damascus that Tehran blamed on Israel and threatened retaliation.
On Monday evening, Iran launched ballistic missile attacks against autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq, allegedly targeting a site used by “spies of the Zionist regime (Mossad)”.
Since mid-October, dozens of attacks have occurred against American soldiers and coalition troops stationed in Iraq and Syria to combat the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia.
Most of these drone strikes or rocket attacks were claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of fighters from pro-Iranian armed groups.