US forces are injured as three drones target Iraqi bases: Iran-backed terrorists claim responsibility amid soaring tensions over Hamas-Israel war

US troops have been injured after three drones attacked two coalition bases in Iraq over the past 24 hours.

Two of the drones were launched at al-Asad air base, west of Baghdad, and a third targeted al-Harir air base in the north of the war-torn country.

The planes were intercepted, but one of the drones still managed to explode, causing minor injuries and damage to equipment. Some US troops were being assessed for possible traumatic brain injuries, an official told Reuters.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iranian-backed terrorist faction, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it heralds “more operations” against the “American occupation.”

The attack comes amid rising tensions in the Middle East after Israel launched a bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip following a terror attack by Hamas on October 7. Protests broke out across the region when Joe Biden flew to Jerusalem on Wednesday to show his support for the Israeli prime minister. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The second drone strike targeted al-Harir air base, which hosts US troops in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, according to US officials, an Iraqi security official and a Western diplomat.

There are currently 2,500 US troops stationed in Iraq.

The security service of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, Kurdistan Counter Terrorism, said the armed drone fell in the second incident at 12:18 a.m. Iraqi time in a desert area near the village of Batas in Harir district. It was not elaborated.

Last week, Iraqi forces aligned with Iran threatened to attack US interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support Israel against Hamas in Gaza.

The Pentagon has rushed air defenses and ammunition to Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, but American troops have not joined the fighting.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, much of the attention has been focused on Hezbollah, Hamas’s powerful ally across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon, and its formidable arsenal. The group has carried out limited attacks with Israel on the border in recent days.

But Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have also threatened to attack US facilities over US support for Israel.

“Our missiles, drones and special forces are ready to direct quality attacks against the American enemy in its bases and disrupt its interests if it intervenes in this battle,” said Ahmad “Abu Hussein” al-Hamidawi, head of the Kataib Hezbollah militia. said in a statement last Wednesday. He also threatened to fire rockets at Israeli targets.

The attacks came less than a day after an explosion at a Gaza hospital killed hundreds of Palestinians, raising the stakes for US President Joe Biden as he arrived in Israel on Wednesday to express support for the war against Hamas.

Palestinian officials said the hospital was hit by an Israeli airstrike. Israel denied this and blamed the blast at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital on a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which denied responsibility.

The Palestinian Authority’s health minister accused Israel of causing a “massacre.”

Tensions were already high in Iraq over the war in Gaza. Its top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week condemned Israel and called on the world to stand up against the “terrible brutality” in besieged Gaza.

Leaders of Iraqi armed groups blamed Israel for the attack on the hospital. Some condemned the US for its support of Israel.

Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful armed faction with close ties to Iran, accused the United States of supporting Israel to “kill innocent people” and said it should leave Iraq.

“These evil people must leave the country, otherwise they will taste the fires of hell in this world before the hereafter,” the group said in a statement late Tuesday.

Wednesday’s attacks came as President Joe Biden made a brief visit to Israel.

Biden headed to wartime Israel on Wednesday for a 7 1/2-hour visit that delivered a huge dose of support for the Israeli people, a deal to get limited humanitarian aid from Egypt to Gaza and a warning not to anger the deadly Hamas to allow. attack to consume them.

‘I understand. A lot of Americans understand it,” Biden said as he wrapped up his stay in Tel Aviv, comparing the Oct. 7 Hamas attack to the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people. “You can’t look at what happened here … and not scream for justice,” he said.

Biden urged Israel to step back from the brink, not only to ease growing tensions in the Middle East that threaten to spiral into a broader regional conflict, but also to put a world at ease plagued by images of carnage and suffering, both in Israel and Gaza. According to the United Nations, a million people have been displaced in about 10 days.

The president’s mission was to show resolve toward Israel and reduce the likelihood of a broader war, while offering assurances that he would not overlook the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. But it was not clear how far the trip would take Biden in his bid to get a handle on volatile divisions in the Middle East, especially after the collapse of his plan to follow Israel’s halt with a summit of Arab leaders in Jordan.

The day was full of signature Biden moments as he walked a careful diplomatic line. He extended hugs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to first responders, doctors and victims who witnessed nightmare moments. He spoke quietly and sadly about his own history. He told the famous anecdote about meeting every Israeli prime minister for more than fifty years in elected office, starting with Golda Meir in 1973. He quoted an Irish poet.

“I come to Israel with a single message: You are not alone,” Biden said. “As long as the United States stands strong—and we will forever—we will never let you be alone.”