US base in Iraq hit with ballistic missiles in significant escalation
Al-Anbar, Iraq - Iran-backed militants launched ballistic missiles at a base hosting US forces in western Iraq, causing one Iraqi and possible American casualties, the US Central Command said Saturday.
"Multiple ballistic missiles and rockets were launched by Iranian-backed militants in western Iraq targeting al-Assad Airbase," CENTCOM said in a social media post, which placed the time of the attack at 6:30 PM Baghdad time (10:30 AM ET) Saturday evening.
Most of the projectiles were intercepted by the base's air defense systems, but "others impacted on the base," the statement said.
"A number of US personnel are undergoing evaluation for traumatic brain injuries. At least one Iraqi service member was wounded," it added.
Since mid-October, there have been dozens of attacks on US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, deployed there to fight ISIS jihadists.
Most have been claimed by Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose US support for Israel's months-long assault on Gaza.
The group said in a press release Saturday that it had carried out the latest attack.
Middle East roiled by tensions around Israel's war on Gaza
The use of ballistic missiles marks an escalation in the attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, who had previously been targeted with lower-tech rockets and drones.
Saturday's air base attack comes amid soaring tensions in the Middle East following the outbreak of war on October 7.
Five members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were also killed in a strike Saturday in Damascus that Tehran blamed on Israel, threatening reprisals.
Last Monday evening, Iran itself launched a deadly strike in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, saying it had targeted a site used by "spies of the Zionist regime (Mossad)."
Washington has on several occasions launched strikes of its own, killing a notable member of Islamic Resistance in Iraq and putting Iraqi prime minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani in an increasingly difficult position. He has twice called for the withdrawal of the coalition.
According to the Pentagon, dozens of US personnel have been lightly wounded in previous attacks since late October, a measure of the simmering anger at US involvement in Israel's siege of Gaza.
There are roughly 2,500 American troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria.
Cover photo: Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP