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Five U.S. service members and two U.S. contractors were injured in a rocket attack by Iran-backed terrorists in Iraq on August 5, according to U.S. defense officials who briefed The Washington Post. Two Iraqi security officials told Reuters that the injuries were caused by two rockets that fell inside the Ain al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq, where U.S. and allied forces have been based since 2014 on a counter-ISIS mission at the invitation of the Iraqi government. According to a U.S. defense official who spoke to Fox News, all of the injured personnel are in stable condition, including five who were treated at the base and two who were evacuated for further care. An Iraqi militia called al-Thawryoon has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters on Tuesday that he was “sure that it was an Iranian-backed Shia militia group.”
Austin and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, discussed the attack during a call on August 5. According to a Pentagon readout, Austin and Gallant agreed that the strike on al-Asad by an “Iran-backed militia … marked a dangerous escalation and demonstrated Iran’s destabilizing role in the region.” The United States maintains a relatively small presence of 2,500 troops in Iraq and approximately 900 more in Syria, where they likewise face drone and rocket attacks from Iran-backed militias. Since October 17, Iran-backed militias have attacked U.S. forces in the region over 170 times, with only 11 responses from the United States.
Expert Analysis
“Discussions with our Israeli allies are important, but they are no substitute for U.S. kinetic action to hold the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership and their proxies responsible for their terrorist attacks on U.S. forces. These attacks will not stop until we hold Iran accountable.” — RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, FDD Senior Fellow and Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology
“Recent history and the tragic deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan earlier this year demonstrate that eventually, the rockets and drones fired by these militias find their targets. This recent attack wounded several Americans. If these attacks are allowed to continue without a meaningful American response, the next one could kill several Americans.” — Cameron McMillan, FDD Research Analyst
“The Islamic Republic continues to direct its Iraqi proxies to harm American interests and lives. With the increasing threat of an Iranian attack on Israel in the coming days, U.S. servicemembers will be in Iran’s crosshairs. The United States must respond decisively against those responsible, mirroring the retaliatory attacks conducted in February. Such a response serves as a critical deterrent; failure to act decisively will only embolden further aggression and put American lives at risk.” — Ahmad Sharawi, FDD Research Analyst
Iranian Proxy Attacks on U.S. Troops
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of Iranian-backed militias, escalated drone and missile attacks against U.S. and coalition troops in the region in mid-October at the onset of Hamas’s war against Israel. The militias largely paused their attacks against U.S. troops in early February following U.S. airstrikes in response to a deadly attack at a base in Jordan on January 28 in which three American servicemembers were killed. There were two attacks against U.S. forces in April. Since July 16, there have been at least six. On July 16, an unspecified Iranian proxy launched a drone attack against al-Asad, causing minimal damage but no injuries. Additional attacks on al-Asad and Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria followed on July 25, 26, and 27 with no reports of injuries or serious damage. On July 30, U.S. forces conducted a self-defense airstrike against a militia base south of Baghdad, killing four fighters and injuring an additional four. According to The Washington Post, one of the casualties of the U.S. airstrike was a drone specialist associated with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who was in Iraq to train the terrorists.
