For the fourth time since June 6, Ain al-Assad Air Base came under rocket attacks. According to the official military spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, Colonel Wayne Marotto, the attack took place at noon on Wednesday.
“Ain Al-Assad Air Base was attacked by 14 rockets. The rockets landed on the base & perimeter.” Spokesman Marotto’s tweet read.
He also reported “three minor injuries” which comes as a first after a series of attacks made only material damage leaving US personnel unscathed. The last attack where a casualty was reported took place on February 15, where multiple rockets hit an American base near Erbil International Airport killing a contractor as well as a civilian and injured at least 8 individuals.
The identities of those injured in Wednesday’s attack is undisclosed at the time.
On Tuesday night, Erbil International Airport was targeted with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with explosives. Footage from the scenes where the explosion took place shows that the UAV attack caused a fire at the airport.
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, condemned the attack targeting the airport in a tweet on Wednesday morning. “These constant attacks, last night again in Erbil, are an affront to the rule of law. Such acts are pushing the country towards the unknown, with the Iraqi people potentially paying a high price.” the tweet read. “The legitimacy of the state must not be threatened by callous armed actors,” Hennis-Plasschaert said, likely referring to the militia groups sponsored by Iran who ramped up their attacks against US forces in Iraq.
Militias continue calling for the “total removal of occupying forces from Iraq.”
Abu Alaa al-Walae, the commander of Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iran-backed militia group originally formed in 2013 in Syria, gave an interview for the Associated Press earlier in the week calling for retribution against American forces in Iraq and the wider region.
“We want an operation that befits those martyrs,” Al-Walae said, hinting at a possible escalation of attacks after Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada was one of the groups targeted in a US airstrike in Iraq’s western province of Anbar last month.
The attack killed at least four militia members.
