Ballistic Missiles May Have Been Used In Huge Strike On US Base In Iraq
Update(1355ET): Details have continued trickling out and are scant, but by all accounts the Saturday attack on Al-Asad airbase in Western Iraq, which houses US forces, was a big one. Reuters cites an official who said "the base was hit by ballistic missiles but he left open the possibility it was struck by rockets." This has led to some speculation that ballistic missiles could have been fired on the US outpost from Iranian territory.
Some updates:
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) January 20, 2024
- Not rockets, but tactical ballistic missiles;
- U.S. injuries confirmed;
- 15+ U.S. Patriot missiles were launched to intercept, but some missiles still got through -- meaning attack was BIG;
- #Iran-directed "Islamic Resistance in #Iraq" claimed responsibility. https://t.co/E858p7PNRz
This is the very same base that Iran retaliated against with ballistic missiles in January 2020, as revenge for the US assassination by drone strike of IRGC Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani.
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A missile barrage has reportedly struck the Al-Asad Airbase — a U.S. military facility maintained in Iraq since 2003 — according to Reuters accompanied by videos on X alleging to show the missiles raining down:
🇮🇶🇺🇸BREAKING: ROCKET BARRAGE HITS U.S BASE IN IRAQ
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 20, 2024
Ain Al-Assad base in western Iraq, housing American forces, was reportedly hit by 20 rockets in a severe missile attack.
Hezbollah in Iraq has reportedly claimed responsibility, stating the attack targeted American troops.… pic.twitter.com/GokK35aNzk
The Al-Asad base is the same that suffered retaliatory strikes in January of 2020 after then-President Trump killed Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani.
US defense officials at the time said just 10 missiles managed to make contact with the base. It appears fewer than 20 missiles were fired in Saturday’s attack — with an unknown number intercepted by missile defense systems — though the story continues to develop.
According to further details:
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 US official said, citing initial assessments, which are subject to change.
At least a dozen missiles were fired at a military base used by US-led coalition forces in western Iraq, a US defense source and Iraqi police told AFP.
Al-Asad was the second largest base constructed during George Bush’s "Operation Iraqi Freedom," — wherein ‘freedom’ in Neocon-speak of course refers to 300,000 dead Iraqi civilians — an operation which ostensibly ended in December of 2011.
The Pentagon will use these strikes — on a base constructed for Bush's Iraq war which ended in 2011 — to escalate US involvment in the ME.
— Liam Cosgrove (@cosgrove_iv) January 20, 2024
The media will ignore all context of US funding Israel's war and fail to ask any questions on why the base still operates 13 years later: https://t.co/kN02MdvVNA
The Iran Observer said to "expect US retaliatory strikes against Iraqi resistance forces."
This follows an Iranian strike on what they deemed foreign "espionage centers" and "anti-Iranian terrorist gatherings in parts of the region" with ballistic missiles, killing four though no Americans.
One regional correspondent, Joyce Karam, pointed out that last Monday was an exceptional day in terms of the number of hugely escalatory events close in time.
She wrote that the "Middle East is imploding, in one day"...which has included the following:
- Attack on US ship by Yemen Houthis
- US intercepting 2nd attack in Red Sea
- Israel strikes in Gaza [and Syria]
- Stabbing & car ramming near Tel Aviv
- IRGC attack in Iraq
- IRGC attack in Syria