US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq’s security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday, a U.S. official said, citing initial assessments.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said initial reports indicated that the base was hit by ballistic missiles, but left open the possibility the base was hit by rockets, adding an assessment was ongoing.
The so-called ‘Islamic Resistance in Iraq’, an umbrella group for Iranian-backed proxy militia forces, claimed responsibility for the attack.
It came as separate missile attacks on Saturday in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen threw into sharp focus the increasing risk of the war in Gaza triggering a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States.
Iran said five of its Revolutionary Guards were killed in a missile strike on a house in Damascus for which it blamed Israel, and security sources in Lebanon said an Israeli strike there killed a member of Hezbollah.
US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq’s security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base (seen above in 2020) on Saturday
The United States also said it had targeted a missile the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen was aiming into the Red Sea, which it called a threat to shipping.
The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7 when Hamas fighters stormed border defenses to attack Israeli bases and towns, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages.
Hamas is part of Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’, a regional alliance that also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, Shi’ite militia groups in Iraq and the Houthis who control much of Yemen.
Israel’s intense bombardment of Gaza since Oct. 7, which health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave say has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, quickly triggered border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.
Over the past three months Israel has also repeatedly struck at Iranian targets in Syria, while Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iraq have fired at U.S. targets in those countries.
A picture taken on January 13, 2020 shows a member the US forces walking past a drone in the Ain al-Asad airbase in the western Iraqi province of Anbar
Aside from Gaza, the theatre of conflict with the widest international repercussions has been the Red Sea, where the Houthis have repeatedly targeted shipping they say is bound for or linked to Israel, hitting global trade as some companies avoid the key waterway.
U.S. and British strikes over the past week have targeted Houthis forces in Yemen.
Regional and Iranian sources say Iran and Hezbollah have personnel in Yemen helping direct attacks on shipping, though the Houthis have denied that.
Developing story, more to follow.