Three rockets hit Baghdad International Airport, where US troops are stationed

Defence Redefined

23/04/2021

Three rockets hit Baghdad airport on Thursday night, where US troops are stationed, in another incident of tensions between Iran and the United States taking place in Iraq territory, which remains in the grip of its two allies.

The rockets hit part of the air base of Iraqi troops – they share it with the troops that Washington has deployed in the context of the anti-jihadist coalition, an official of the Iraqi security forces clarified to the French Agency, on condition of anonymity.

An Iraqi soldier was wounded, he added. According to Iraqi security forces, more rockets that had not been fired were found and defused on the roof of an empty house used to launch the rockets.

This is the second rocket attack on Americans in less than a week: on Sunday, five rockets were fired at Balad, another air base north of Baghdad, injuring three Iraqi soldiers and two foreign contractors.

No responsibility has been claimed yet, but Washington has repeatedly blamed attacks on pro-Iranian militias targeting US troops and diplomats in Iraq.

About twenty bombings or rocket attacks have been reported so far against US military bases and US diplomatic missions since Joe Biden took office on January 20.

Dozens more had already been carried out since the fall of 2019, under the administration of Donald Trump. In mid-April, a more sophisticated attack was recorded: for the first time, pro-Iranian paramilitaries used UAVs detonated with explosives against the US military at Arbil Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan (north).

The attack came amid complex negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program.

Two foreign contractors, an Iraqi contractor and eight Iraqi non-combatants have been killed in attacks on US troops and diplomats over the past year.

Source: CNA

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