Rocket attack targets US base in Syria from Iraqi territory

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, five rockets were launched from Iraq's Zummar region toward a US military base in northeastern Syria.

It is the first incident targeting US forces since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq ceased their assaults against American troops.

Iraq's Security Media Cell (SMC) said the Iraqi security forces, operating in the Western Nineveh Operations Sector near the Iraqi-Syrian border, "have initiated a comprehensive search and inspection operation targeting outlaw elements. These elements launched a missile attack against a Global Coalition base at 21:50 on Sunday, deep within Syrian territory."

"During the operation, our security forces discovered and destroyed the vehicle used to launch the missiles," SMC said.

"The search operation is ongoing to apprehend the perpetrators and ensure they face legal consequences for their actions."

Despite fingers pointing to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, as it attacked the US troops more than 150 times before February 2024, the Sabreen News, a popular Telegram group close to the Resistance factions, said, "For the past 48 hours, Hezbollah Brigades of the Islamic Resistance has not issued any official statements on their official platforms or through their spokespersons. Reports circulating in the media are currently considered hearsay until official sources confirm."

The Global Coalition did not comment on the attack.

Notably, the United States maintains a military presence of 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and nearly 900 troops across the border in Syria as part of the Coalition established in 2014 to combat ISIS.

The incident came after high tensions in Iraq between Iraqi armed factions and the government over the presence of the US forces in the country.

On Saturday, sources within the Iraqi resistance factions revealed to Shafaq News Agency that the "coordination body of the resistance faction" called all spokespersons and leaders to halt public statements, even regarding the recent attack at a Popular Mobilization Forces' camp in Babil.

The sources explained that the directive is to await a meeting between the leaders of the armed factions and PM Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to discuss the details of his meetings in Washington regarding the withdrawal of US forces.

In January 2020, Iraq's Parliament approved a non-binding resolution urging the government to remove foreign troops from the country amid escalating tensions between Iran and the US and after the killing of the prominent Iranian military commander Gen. Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad with the leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, in an American strike.

However, the situation has escalated after October 7.

Since the start of the Israeli aggression in Gaza, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) has regularly attacked the US interests in Iraq and Syria.

The deadliest attack was in Jordan when Kataeb Hezbollah killed three American soldiers at a US base.

IRI stated that its operations are to "expel the American occupation" and in support of "Palestinian brothers."

So far, more than 195 attacks have targeted the US bases.

In a series of retaliation, the US military launched airstrikes on sites related to Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria, killing members of Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq and commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon's Hezbollah in Syria.

Notably, activities had subsided since early February, a month after Washington and Baghdad announced the resumption of talks within the joint Higher Military Commission (HMC) to discuss the threat of ISIS, the operational environment, and the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces.

In the recent Iranian attacks on Israel, Washington and Tel Aviv said that the Iraqi airspace was used; Iraq did not comment on the incident; however, Friday's attack on a PMF headquarters in Babil governorate raised questions about the US sending a message for the Iraqi factions to stay away from the Israeli-Irania conflict.

Washington denied any involvement in the Babil attack.