Rocket attack Archives - Iran News Daily

Hangar damaged in drone strike on US airbase in Iraq

mahla — Sat, 08 May 2021 14:06:03 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – An airbase in Iraq’s western province of Anbar housing American troops has come under attack, damaging a hangar for military aircraft.

“This morning at 02:20 [local time] (2320 GMT Friday) Ain al-Asad Air Base was attacked by an unmanned aerial surveillance system. No injuries reported. A hangar was damaged. The attack is under investigation,” Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page on Saturday.

The Security Media Cell, affiliated with the Iraqi prime minister’s office, also confirmed the attack in a statement.

It said an explosives-laden drone had crashed inside the air base, located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, without causing any damage.

This is while Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi – reported that several rockets had hit Ain al-Asad Air base on Saturday morning.

The report added that C-RAM systems as well as Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missile systems deployed at the base failed to intercept the rockets.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, which is the latest in a series of assaults that have targeted US occupation forces over the past few months.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi army announced in a statement that two rockets had landed inside Ain al-Asad military base, but the attack had caused no casualties. No further information was provided.

The Iraqi al-Ahad television channel said rocket sirens went off at the sprawling installation.

The development came only a day after at least six rockets struck the al-Balad Airbase, which houses US forces as well as warplanes and lies 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

Last week, an airbase similarly housing the United States-led coalition’s forces at Baghdad International Airport came under rocket fire.

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Suspicious Timing of US Embassy Rocket Attack

reporter 1222 — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 09:24:48 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman denounced the rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad, noting that, however, the timing of the attack and the US’ immediate claims seems suspicious.“Attacking diplomatic and residential premises is not acceptable, but the type of attack and its timing and the statement issued by the US Secretary of State show that the timing is very suspicious and they had already prepared a statement to publish,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said during his weekly presser on Monday.

The rockets, which were fired late on Sunday, landed close to the US diplomatic mission, causing sirens blaring within the compound without any casualties apart from some material damage. The rockets reportedly hit a residential complex inside the Green Zone, damaging buildings and cars, but causing no casualties.

Immediately after the rocket launch, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the opportunity to accuse Iran of being behind the attack by a statement published in the press service of the US State Department and also in a later tweet.

“Iran-backed militias once again flagrantly and recklessly attacked in Baghdad, wounding Iraqi civilians,” he claimed in a tweet, adding that “The people of Iraq deserve to have these attackers prosecuted. These violent and corrupt criminals must cease their destabilizing actions.”

Pompeo’s claims about civilian casualties come as Saberin News reported that the defense systems of the US embassy has inflicted damage on residential areas of the Green Zone.

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Rockets Hit Green Zone in ‌Baghdad

reporter 1222 — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 10:05:42 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Rockets struck an area at the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad, which houses some of the main government offices and foreign diplomatic missions, including the US Embassy.

Security sources inside the high-security district, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the rockets landed in this area of Baghdad early on Thursday.

AFP journalists heard at least three explosions, which consequently triggered security sirens at the US Embassy compound. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The development took place a week after Iraq’s military said at least two rockets had hit inside Baghdad’s Green Zone.

The two projectiles struck near the Baghdad Operations Command, which coordinates Iraq’s police and military forces, the military statement said at the time.

The command center is a few hundred meters away from the US Embassy, which is a regular target of rocket attacks.

An Iraqi security official, who requested not to be named, said back then there were no casualties.

The attacks come as anti-US sentiment has been running high in Iraq following the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions in a US assassination drone airstrike authorized by President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill two days later, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.

The US responded to the move by threatening crippling sanctions against the Arab country and, according to some reports, a huge bombing spree against the Iraqi groups it blames for attacks on site.

The troop withdrawal was put to talks between Baghdad and Washington earlier this month, with the US promising to reduce the number of its troops there in the coming month.

Washington also claimed in a statement following the talks “it does not seek nor request permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq.”

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Rockets hit near foreign oil firms in Basra

reporter 1222 — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 12:11:33 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Several rockets have landed near offices of foreign and Iraqi oil companies in the southern city of Basra, the military says, amid warnings of false-flag US operation aimed at creating further unrest in the country.

Police said three Katyusha rockets, launched at around 3 a.m. local time on Monday, hit the Burjesia district which houses foreign oil workers and offices of both foreign and Iraqi oil companies, west of Basra.

No damage or casualties have been reported in the district which has been largely empty in recent weeks due to the evacuation of almost all foreign personnel over the coronavirus pandemic.

According to two officials with state-run Basra Oil Co. (BOC) which oversees oil operation in the south production and export operations had not been affected by the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Police sources said they found a rocket launcher and some unused rockets in a close farmland area.

In recent months, the high-security Green Zone in the capital, Baghdad, has been repeatedly targeted by Katyusha rockets.

The US military has used such attacks as a pretext to pressure the Iraqi government to disband the country’s popular anti-terror groups, which are now integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces, and staged airstrikes on their positions along with Israel.

The latest developments come after reports that the Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq.

Last week, Iraq’s anti-terror resistance groups reiterated their readiness to counter any possible attack by US occupation forces, saying that they are also on high alert for any false-flag US operation.

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Rockets hit US base in Baghdad, no casualties

reporter 1222 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 05:29:03 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Rockets hit a US military base in Baghdad early on Sunday but caused no casualties, a coalition spokesman said, in the latest attack to target US facilities in Iraq.

Washington has blamed paramilitary groups for increasingly regular targeting of rockets and shelling of the base hosting US forces across Iraq and of the area around the US Embassy in Baghdad, Reuters reported.

An attack last month hit the US Embassy compound itself, and a rocket attack on a military base in the north in December killed a US civilian contractor.

There have been no claims for the attacks.

In a report early this month, The New York Times quoted Iraqi military and intelligence officials as raising doubts about who fired the rockets that started the spiral of events that brought the US and Iran to the brink of war.

The United States assassinated top Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike in Baghdad last month, after which the region braced for a full-scale conflict. Iran launched its first direct missile attack on a base hosting US forces in response.

According to The New York Times report, the Iraqi officials said they believe it is unlikely that the militia the US blamed for the attack, Khataib Hezbollah, carried it out in December 2019.

Iraqi officials acknowledge that they have no direct evidence tying the Dec. 27 rocket attack to one group or another.

American officials insist that they have solid evidence that Khataib Hezbollah carried out the attack, though they have not made it public.

Khataib Hezbollah has also denied responsibility for the attack, and no group has claimed it.

Iraqi officials said their doubts were based on circumstantial evidence and long experience in the area where the attack took place.

The rockets were launched from Kirkuk Province notorious for attacks by the Daesh, a terrorist group.

Khataib Hezbollah has not had a presence in Kirkuk Province since 2014.

Sunday’s attack, before dawn, was carried out with “small rockets” and caused no casualties, the coalition spokesman said in a statement on Twitter. He provided no further details, Reuters reported.

An Iraqi military statement said three Katyusha rockets had hit the fortified Green Zone which hosts the US Embassy, other foreign missions, and Iraqi government buildings. It said a fourth hit a nearby logistics base for Iraqi paramilitary groups.

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