Earlier this week, US forces thwarted several drones targeting troops in Iraq.
Washington:
US forces have come under repeated attacks in Iraq and Syria in recent days, US officials said on Thursday, as Washington is on heightened alert for activities by Iranian-backed groups as regional tensions soar amid the Israel-Hamas war.
President Joe Biden has deployed naval forces to the Middle East in the past two weeks, including two aircraft carriers, other warships and about 2,000 Marines.
Since the conflict erupted in Israel on October 7, when Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked southern Israel, attacks on US forces have increased. On Wednesday, a drone hit U.S. troops in Syria, causing minor injuries, while another was downed.
A civilian contractor died of cardiac arrest during a false alarm at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq.
Earlier this week, US forces thwarted several drones targeting troops in Iraq. On Thursday, drones and missiles targeted Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, and multiple explosions were heard inside the base.
“While I will not predict any potential responses to these attacks, I will say that we will take all necessary measures to defend U.S. and coalition forces against any threat,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters Thursday.
“Any response, should it arise, will come at a time of our choosing,” Ryder said.
A US Navy warship traveling near Yemen on Thursday intercepted missiles and several drones launched by what Ryder said was the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, although it appeared the projectiles may have been headed toward Israel .
LINK TO THE ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT?
Israel has called up a record 360,000 reservists and has been bombing the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip non-stop following the October 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
At least 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and 12,493 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
But Ryder said he saw no link between the increase in attacks and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“At this time, the information we have does not indicate a direct link to the Hamas attacks on October 7,” he said.
The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, and another 900 in neighboring Syria, on a mission to advise and assist local forces in the fight against Islamic State, which seized parts of territory in both countries in 2014 took.
Tensions were already high in Iraq over the war in Gaza. Its top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week condemned Israel and called on the world to stand up against the “terrible brutality” in besieged Gaza.
Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful armed faction with close ties to Iran, accused the United States of supporting Israel to “kill innocent people” and said it should leave Iraq.
In recent years, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have regularly launched rocket attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Such attacks had declined since last year thanks to a ceasefire, and Iraq has enjoyed a period of relative calm.
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