The US military in Iraq intercepted several drones that were targeting Iraq’s Al-Asad air base. The US has forces at Al-Asad and several other facilities in Iraq. Two drones were intercepted, two US officials told Reuters.
“The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say who was suspected of the attack,” the report said. The attack comes as US President Joe Biden is flying to Israel and in the wake of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza which some countries in the region have blamed on Israel.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 several high profile pro-Iran politicians in Iraq have threatened the US. They have asserted that if the US is seen as supporting Israel then US forces could be targeted in Iraq.
Pro-Iranian militias have targeted US forces over the last four years in Iraq. They have increasingly used kamikaze drones to attack US forces. After a deadly attack in 2019 against the US, protesters also attacked the US embassy in Baghdad. The US killed IRGC general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in January 2020.
‘One-way attack drones intercepted’
According to the Reuters report “one-way attack drones were intercepted as they attempted to strike Iraq’s al Asad air base, which hosts American troops, the officials said.” This has led to the US also alerting US citizens in Lebanon, after protests there against the US. There have also been protests against the US in Iraq and Turkey.
Iran has warned that the conflict in Gaza could expand and Iran has prodded Hezbollah to threaten Israel. Iran’s foreign minister also travelled to Qatar to meet Hamas leaders last week and also travelled to Lebanon and then Saudi Arabia. In Iraq there are numerous militias that are pro-Iran. These groups are aligned with the Popular Mobilization Units. Some of these groups have armed drones.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week condemned Israel and called on the world to stand up to the “terrible brutality” in Gaza. Amwaj media said last week that pro-Iran groups in Iraq and Yemen had warned the US about the war in Gaza.
In January 2022 a drone attack on US forces in Iraq was foiled. In June 2021 the US carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in Syria due to rising threats by those Iran-backed groups against US forces in Syria. In June 2021 air defenses at Al-Asad base also intercepted two drones. There was also a drone attack on Al-Asad in May 2021. Iran-backed militias also used drones to target US forces at Erbil International Airport in the Kurdistan region in 2021.
Iran makes numerous types of kamikaze drones. It has exported the Shahed-136 to Russia and Russia has used them against Ukraine. Iran has used drones to target dissidents in Iraq over the years. It has also supplied Iraqi militias with drones. It has also exported drone technology to the Houthis in Yemen, to Hezbollah, to militias in Syria and also to Hamas.
Drones can be shot down with air defense systems or foiled in other ways. Most of these drones are small and fly slowly, making them relatively easy to detect and shoot down with the right air defenses. The US reportedly deployed various types of defenses to Iraq several years ago. Iraq also has some limited air defense capabilities.
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