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United States forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with rockets and drones some 118 times in recent months, Fox News Pentagon producer Liz Friden revealed on January 3.
The attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria began on October 17 in response to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which broke out ten days earlier. Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iranian-backed armed factions.
Friden said on X, previously known as Twitter, that there have been five attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the start of 2024.
“No injuries or damage to infrastructure have been reported in the most recent attacks,” she noted, without clarifying her sources.
The last three attacks reported by Friden targeted the bases of al-Shadiadi and the Green Village in the northeastern and eastern Syrian governorates of al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor as well as a base located near Erbil International Airport in the northern Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan.
The IRI claimed responsibility for the three attacks on January 2 and reported three other attacks later, two of which targeted Rmelan base and the other targeted the al-Malikiyah base in al-Hasakah. The group said that the attack was carried out in response to Israeli “massacres” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. military has already carried out several strikes against armed factions affiliated with the IRI, like Kata’ib Hezbollah, in Iraq and Syria. However, the group remains undeterred.
In addition to the regular attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, the IRI have claimed responsibility for several attacks against targets near the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat, in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and against the Karish gas field off Israel’s shores.
The IRI posses some advanced long-range offensive capabilities, including suicide drones as well as ballistic and cruise missiles.
