A military base that hosted American troops in Iraq was targeted by about 10 rockets on Wednesday morning, putting an end to any illusion that President Joe Biden’s attack on Iranian-backed militants in Syria would prevent such actions.
Col. Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for US-led anti-ISIS coalition forces, said Grad rockets hit Al-Asad airbase in western Iraq at about 7:20 am local time. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby added hours later that no US soldiers had been injured in the attack, but that an American civilian contractor experienced a fatal “cardiac episode” while protecting himself from rockets.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the dam, it bears a strong resemblance to rocket attacks frequently launched by Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia groups against American and allied troops in Iraq.
Several media reported that the launch pad was found outside the neighboring town of al-Baghdadi in the province of Anbar, and CNN noted that a pro-militia group on Telegram published unconfirmed images of the weapon. This follows Kirby’s statement on Wednesday morning that the rockets were fired from the east of the broad base.
In January 2020, Iran targeted the same base in response to the assassination of then President Donald Trump of Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani, injuring dozens of American military personnel.
Wednesday’s attack comes six days after Biden authorized the US military to bomb nine facilities used by Iranian-supported militias in Syria to smuggle weapons. Biden’s team said it was in retaliation for weeks of rocket launches against coalition forces outside Erbil, Iraq – which killed a Filipino contractor and injured American soldiers – and near the United States embassy in Baghdad.
Kirby told reporters at the time, “Of course, we want a message of deterrence here, delivered directly to them, about the repercussions of going after our people and our Iraqi partners and our facilities inside Iraq.”
Biden himself told Congressional leaders in a letter on Saturday that “I directed this military action to protect and defend our people and our partners against these attacks and future attacks.”
It appears that the deterrent message that the administration tried to send has not been received.
The tit-for-tat should only continue, say some experts, and there is a chance of escalation.
This is a problem for the Biden government, which is simultaneously trying to orchestrate the United States’ re-entry into the nuclear deal with Iran. To do this, Washington and Tehran must agree to a diplomatic structure by which the US will lift sanctions on Iran and Iran. Islamic Republic cease to violate the terms of the nuclear development pact.
Getting to that agreement is difficult in the best of circumstances. It is even more difficult when the two sides are attacking each other.
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