At least five US troops were wounded in an attack on a military base in Iraq on Monday, as the Middle East braces for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following the killing last week of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Two Katyusha rockets were fired at the Al-Asad airbase in western Iraq, two Iraqi security sources said. One of the Iraqi sources said the missiles landed inside the base. It was unclear whether the attack was linked to Iranian threats to retaliate for the killing of the Hamas leader.
US officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said one of the wounded Americans was seriously injured. They said the casualty count was based on initial reports, which could change. One official added:
Base personnel are assessing the damage after the attack.
Meanwhile, explosions were heard in Acre and Haifa on Tuesday. In Nagaria, a direct hit on a military base is reported, there are wounded.
A drone is also reported to have crashed into a car in Acre.
Cause of escalation
Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran last week, prompting Iranian threats of retaliation against Israel. Iran blamed Israel for the killing, but Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Last week, the US struck in Iraq against individuals US officials believed were militants preparing to launch drones and posing a threat to US and coalition forces.
The US was watching to see whether Iran would honour its promise to respond to the killing of Haniyeh, one in a string of high-profile assassinations of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group while the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is ongoing.
The incident is likely a response to a US Air Force raid on the headquarters of Iraq’s al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia south of Baghdad. Seven fighters of the Shiite group Kataib Hezbollah were killed and several others were injured.
This is nothing groundbreaking: Iranian proxies periodically attack US military bases in Iraq and Syria, although in the vast majority of cases the attacks do not result in casualties among the personnel.
But there are exceptions: for example, the strike on the Tower 22 outpost in Jordan, when three US servicemen were killed and 25 wounded. Then the Americans responded with attacks on the positions of pro-Iranian formations in Syria and Iraq.
So, we can expect a repeat of the same long familiar scenario this time, when US aircraft or drones of the US Armed Forces will again attack Iranian-backed factions in a rather limited way. Except that there will be more attention now because the topic of Iran’s retaliatory strike against Israel is on the agenda.
