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The Jerusalem Post

Rockets, drones hit Iraqi base housing US forces -security sources

 
 An AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter from the US Army's 101st Aviation Regiment in Iraq (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
An AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter from the US Army's 101st Aviation Regiment in Iraq
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, and 900 more in neighboring Syria, on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Islamic State.

Drones and rockets targeted on Thursday evening the Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, and multiple blasts were heard inside the base, two security sources said.

The Iraqi military said it closed the area around the base and started a search operation. It was not clear yet whether the attacks caused casualties or damages, said the sources.

Thursday's attack is the third in less than 24 hours against airbases which house US troops in Iraq.

US military forces in Iraq were targeted on Wednesday in two separate drone attacks, with one causing minor injuries to a small number of troops even though the US military managed to intercept the armed drone.

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Threats of targeting the US

Last week, Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target US interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support Israel against Hamas in Gaza.

 A Coalition convoy of US led international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stops to test fire their M2 machine guns and MK19 grenade launcher in the Middle Euphrates River Valley in the Deir ez-Zor province, Syria, November 22, 2018 (credit: COURTESY MATTHEW CRANE/US ARMY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
A Coalition convoy of US led international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stops to test fire their M2 machine guns and MK19 grenade launcher in the Middle Euphrates River Valley in the Deir ez-Zor province, Syria, November 22, 2018 (credit: COURTESY MATTHEW CRANE/US ARMY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, and 900 more in neighboring Syria, on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Islamic State, which in 2014 seized swathes of territory in both countries.

Ain al-Asad air base is located in the western Anbar province.

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