The Pentagon revealed it was “deeply concerned” about a series of recent attacks made on US personnel in Iraq and Syria. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that militias were using lethal weaponry and that it is perceived as a serious threat.
While Iran is denying support of attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, analysts believe they are part of a campaign by Iranian-backed militias as Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran vowed to retaliate after a US strike on the Iraqi-Syrian border killed four of their members last month.
In Iraq, fourteen rockets were fired at a US airbase in the western province of Anbar. Coalition spokesman US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto said two people were slightly wounded as a result of the attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase. The rocket launcher was hidden inside a truck carrying bags of flour, according to Iraqi security forces. Two other rocket attacks were fired at the US embassy inside the fortified Green Zone of the Iraqi capital. Security officials shared the information that the embassy’s anti-rocket system diverted one of the rockets, while the other fell near the zone’s perimeter.
Across the border in Syria, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – led by the Syrian branch of the PKK terrorist organization, the YPG – said they repelled drone attacks against US-based forces near the base in the Omar oil field in the country’s east. Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-Iranian militias probably launched the drones from a rural area outside the town of Al-Mayadeen, southwest of the oil field. No damage or injury occurred.
US-based intelligence group SITE said that a Shi’ite militant group called Revenge of al-Muhandis Brigade claimed responsibility for the attacks.
