Drone Attack Hit Base Hosting U.S. Troops In Western Iraq

Illustrative image.

An attack with two suicide drones targeted on July 16 Ain al-Asad Air Base in the western Iraqi province of al-Anbar, where United States troops are known to be deployed.

An Iraqi military source told Reuters that air defenses shot down one of the drones over the outskirts of the air base. A second source said that the attack didn’t result in any casualties, according to the news agency.

The attack targeted a commercial center and a gas station inside Ain al-Asad, Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV reported, citing Iraqi sources.

This was the second attack against American troops in Iraq since early February when the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, suspended its attacks against U.S. bases. In April, two drones were reportedly shot down near Ain al-Asad.

The IRI began launching attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq and neighboring Syria as well as against targets in Israel last October in response to the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip and Washington’s support for it.

The group suspended attacks against U.S. forces around five months ago after the death of three American troops in a drone strike on a base in Jordan, reportedly upon a request from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. However, it escalated attacks against Israel starting from March.

The drone attack on Ain al-Asad comes two days after a source in the IRI told Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar that the group was considering renewing their attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria.

“The [Iraqi] government’s positions are contradictory regarding the termination of the international coalition and U.S. forces’ missions in the country. High-level delegations’ visits to Washington concerning withdrawal scheduling negotiations are a waste of time, as the U.S. is not willing to do so,” the source told Al-Akhbar.

“The resistance is studying the resumption of its operations against American bases, which were halted to give the government a chance to negotiate, but what is happening now reflects Washington’s insistence on staying under the pretext of organizing bilateral relations, including security,” the source added, calling talks between Baghdad and Washington a “waste of time.”

Al-Mayadeen reported last week, citing sources, that the U.S. has backtracked from a decision to announce a timeframe for reducing the number of its forces in Iraq, as discussed in the talks between Baghdad and Washington.

A high level Iraqi military delegation is expected to arrive in Washington in less than a week to continue talks on ending the U.S.-led military coalition in the country.

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