US Ein Al-Assad Base in Iraq Targeted in Rocket Attack
US Ein Al-Assad Base in Iraq Targeted in Rocket Attack
M.U.H
03/03/2021602
Iraqi security forces announced a barrage of rockets have struck the Ein al-Assad air base hosting American forces in the Western province of Anbar.
The official Iraqi News Agency, citing an unnamed security source, reported that 10 Katyusha rockets had hit the base, located West of the capital Baghdad, on Wednesday morning.
The attack took place at 7:20 am (04:20 GMT), Coalition Spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto confirmed, but did not mention if there had been any casualties.
Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), reported that C-RAM systems as well as Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missile systems deployed at the base were not able to intercept the rockets.
According to the report, a number of US military aircraft could be seen flying over the Hit district, where the air base is located, in the aftermath of the rocket attack.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, which is the latest in a series of assaults that have targeted US positions in Iraq over the past few months.
Witnesses stated a thick column of smoke could be seen billowing from flames in the base.
The raid comes days after the US military conducted an air raid on positions belonging to the forces of the PMU, better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, on the Iraqi-Syrian border, where they were engaged in fighting the remnants of the Takfiri Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS) terror group.
The Iraqi counter-terrorism force pledged retaliation, prompting the US military forces to go on high alert and adopt maximum security measures in anticipation of a response.
The US raid was said to be a response to recent attacks on its military base in Erbil and its mission in Baghdad’s Green Zone, which Washington blames on Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah, a claim rejected by the Hash al-Sha’abi faction.
There has been a spike in attacks on US military bases and diplomatic missions amid anti-US sentiment over the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad early last year.
Gen. Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Deputy Head of the Popular Mobilization Units, were targeted along with their companions on January 3, 2020 in a drone strike authorized by former US President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport.
On January 8, 2020, the IRGC launched a missile attack on the US-run Ein al-Assad air base. Washington tried to put a lid on the number of casualties as well as the material damage caused to the base, which was reported to be immense.
According to the Pentagon, more than 100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrike on the base. The IRGC, however, says Washington uses the term to mask the number of the Americans who perished during the retaliation.
Iran has described the missile attack on Ein al-Assad air base as a “first slap” in its “harsh revenge”.