Baghdad:
The Iraqi army stated two rockets have been fired Tuesday at a base hosting Americans, in the third such attack in 3 days and as a US government delegation is going to the nation.
The two rockets fell on an unoccupied segment of the Ain-al-Assad airbase, “without causing damage or casualties,” the army stated.
The most recent rocket attack follows one against an airbase at Baghdad airport housing US-led coalition troops on Sunday evening, and yet another against Balad airbase, which hosts US contractors, north of the capital on Monday evening.
None of the attacks have so far been claimed, but Washington routinely blames Iran-linked Iraqi factions for such attacks on its troops and diplomats.
Pro-Iran Iraqi groups have vowed to ramp up attacks to force out the “occupying” US forces in current months, in some cases against Tehran’s wishes, according to some professionals.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, perceived by pro-Iran factions as also close to Washington, on Tuesday discussed the presence of 2,500 US soldiers based in Iraq with US envoy Brett McGurk.
The males know every other effectively — Kadhemi, in his part as head of intelligence, a position he retains to this day, worked closely with McGurk when he was the US-led coalition’s representative.
The military coalition was set up to fight the Islamic State jihadist group, which seized manage of a third of Iraq in a lightning 2014 offensive.
Iraq declared victory against the jihadists in late 2017 and stress from Shiite public opinion for the US to withdraw all its troops has mounted in the years because.
Kadhemi and McGurk are working on drawing up a timetable for the “withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq,” according to a statement by the prime minister’s workplace.
Around 30 rocket or bomb attacks have targeted American interests in Iraq — like troops, the embassy or Iraqi provide convoys to foreign forces — because President Joe Biden took workplace in January.
Two foreign contractors, one Iraqi contractor and eight Iraqi civilians have been killed in the attacks.
Last month, an explosives-packed drone slammed into Iraq’s Arbil airport in the initial reported use of such a weapon against a base employed by US-led coalition troops in the nation, according to officials.
Dozens of other attacks have been carried out in Iraq from autumn 2019 throughout the administration of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
The operations are in some cases claimed by obscure groups that professionals say are smokescreens for Iran-backed organisations extended present in Iraq.
The rocket attacks come at a sensitive time as Tehran is engaged in talks with world powers aimed at bringing the US back into a 2015 nuclear deal.
The agreement, which curbs Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, has been on life assistance because Trump withdrew in 2018.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)