U.S. soldiers prepare to board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during an exercise at al Asad Air Base in Iraq on July 7, 2023. The base was attacked Oct. 18, by one-way drones, which were shot down. The attack caused no injuries, according to the Pentagon. (Timothy VanDusen/U.S. Army)
The U.S. military was targeted in two attacks involving drones at air bases where American troops are stationed in western and northern Iraq, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
One of the attacks, at a base in western Iraq, led to minor injuries, a statement by U.S. Central Command said late Wednesday afternoon.
The attack at al Asad Air Base involved two drones, and U.S. forces destroyed one and damaged the other, the statement said.
An earlier statement from U.S. defense officials said the early morning attack at al Asad Air Base involved one-way attack drones, also known as loitering munitions. U.S. officials did not name any suspects.
The earlier statement from U.S. defense officials said there were no injuries.
CENTCOM said there was another attack in northern Iraq, in which a drone was destroyed by U.S. forces. No injuries were reported in the incident.
An Iranian-backed militia in Iraq announced it had launched another drone attack on a second base, al-Harir air base in Irbil province in northern Iraq, The Associated Press reported.
Roughly 2,500 U.S. troops are deployed to Iraq, where they act in an advisory role in efforts against the Islamic State group. The U.S. combat mission in the country officially ended in 2021.
The al Asad Air Base attack comes amid high tension in the Middle East as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. Attacks on Israel since Oct. 7 by Hamas have killed 1,400 people, according to Israeli estimates.
Israel’s response so far has included bombardments of Gaza that had left 2,778 dead and 9,938 injured, the Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday. Those estimates came before an explosion at a Gaza hospital that Hamas, which blames Israel for the attack, says killed hundreds more.
Israel on Wednesday shared audio recordings and satellite imagery to support its statement that the hospital deaths were caused due to an errant strike by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
America’s support for Israel has led Iranian-backed militias in Iraq to issue threats directed toward U.S. troops in the region.
“Our missiles, drones, and special forces are ready to direct qualitative strikes at the American enemy in its bases and disrupt its interests if it intervenes in this battle,” Ahmad “Abu Hussein” al-Hamidawi, head of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, said in a statement last Wednesday. He also threatened to launch missiles at Israeli targets, according to AP reports.
The Pentagon said its deployment of troops and military hardware to the Middle East are efforts to deter these groups from escalating the conflict into a wider regional war.
