U.S. personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraqi security forces was seriously injured on Saturday in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base, a U.S. official said, citing initial assessments.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said initial reports indicated the base was hit by ballistic missiles but left open the possibility the base was hit by missiles, adding that an assessment was underway used to be.
The so-called ‘Islamic Resistance in Iraq’, an umbrella group for Iranian-backed proxy militias, claimed responsibility for the attack.
It came as separate rocket attacks on Saturday in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen brought into sharp relief the growing risk of the war in Gaza, which would lead to a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States .
Iran said five of its Revolutionary Guards were killed in a rocket attack on a house in Damascus for which it blamed Israel, and security sources in Lebanon said an Israeli strike there killed a Hezbollah member.
US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of the Iraqi security forces was seriously injured in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday
Ain al-Asad air base is seen above in 2020. The so-called ‘Islamic Resistance in Iraq’, an umbrella group for Iranian-backed proxy militias, claimed responsibility for the attack
The United States also said it had attacked and destroyed another missile that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group targeted at the Red Sea on Saturday, calling it a threat to shipping.
The conflict in Gaza began on October 7 when Hamas fighters stormed border defenses to attack Israeli bases and towns, killing more than 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.
Hamas is part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” a regional alliance that also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, Shiite militias in Iraq and the Houthis who control much of Yemen.
Israel’s intensive bombardment of Gaza since October 7, which health authorities say has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians in the Hamas-run enclave, quickly led to border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.
Over the past three months, Israel has also repeatedly fired on Iranian targets in Syria, while Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iraq have fired on US targets in those countries.
Apart from Gaza, the theater of greatest international repercussions has been the Red Sea, where the Houthis have repeatedly attacked shipping they say is bound for or connected to Israel, hitting global trade as some companies target the key waterway to avoid.
US and British attacks over the past week have targeted Houthi forces in Yemen.
Regional and Iranian sources say Iran and Hezbollah have personnel in Yemen assisting in direct attacks on shipping, although the Houthis have denied this.
A photo taken on January 13, 2020 shows a member of the US Armed Forces walking past a drone at Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq’s western Anbar province
The United States has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and nearly 900 in Syria supporting a coalition committed to eradicating remnants of Islamic State.
Since late 2021, the coalition in Iraq has said it has halted all combat missions and is stationed at Iraqi military bases purely for advisory and training capacity.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani on Thursday reiterated his call for the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition to leave his country amid rising regional tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas.
“The end of the international coalition mission is a necessity for the security and stability of Iraq,” he said during a televised event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“It is also a necessity for maintaining constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and the coalition countries.”
Sudani, whose government depends on support from parties linked to Iran, has repeatedly said in recent weeks that he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq.
His comments came after the United States launched strikes on pro-Iranian groups in response to attacks since mid-October on American and other coalition forces deployed in Iraq since 2014 in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.
At least 130 attacks were recorded between October 17 and January 11, including 53 in Iraq and 77 in Syria, according to the Pentagon.