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U.S. soldiers conduct an artillery exercise at al Asad Air Base in Iraq on Dec. 1, 2023. The base was targeted in a rocket attack Dec. 20, but there were no injuries or damage for American personnel, a U.S. Central Command statement said.

U.S. soldiers conduct an artillery exercise at al Asad Air Base in Iraq on Dec. 1, 2023. The base was targeted in a rocket attack Dec. 20, but there were no injuries or damage for American personnel, a U.S. Central Command statement said. (Quince Lanford/U.S. Army)

U.S. troops at a base in western Iraq once again came under rocket fire, military officials said Thursday, adding that the attack did not cause any injuries or damage.

The Wednesday morning attack on al Asad Air Base was carried out with a 122 mm rocket, a U.S. Central Command statement said.

Although officials didn’t name the suspects in the attack, Iraqi security forces seized a truck believed to have launched the rocket, the statement said.

Iranian-backed militias have launched dozens of attacks on U.S. troops at bases in Iraq and Syria since the start of a war between Israel and Hamas that American officials have worked to prevent from escalating into a regional conflict.

More than 100 attacks involving drones, rockets and mortars have targeted American troops in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 7, a U.S. defense official told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.

No U.S. forces have died, although dozens have been injured, and an American defense contractor died of a heart problem in October while scrambling for cover during an alert at al Asad.

The U.S. has announced at least six retaliatory and pre-emptive airstrikes on militants in Iraq, including one in late November after al Asad Air Base came under fire from ballistic missiles.

The Pentagon has roughly 2,400 troops deployed to Iraq, as well as 800 troops and about 130 contractors deployed to Syria, a statement from U.S. Central Command in early December said.

Militant groups in Iraq are known for using 122 mm rockets, which are most commonly based on models from the Soviet Union, a 2014 report published by Small Arms Survey said.

These rockets range from 6 to 9 feet in length, and the most common model has an explosive payload of about 41 pounds, the report said.

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J.P. Lawrence reports on the U.S. military in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He served in the U.S. Army from 2008 to 2017. He graduated from Columbia Journalism School and Bard College and is a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines.

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