The U.S. military fired back at Iran-backed militants who wounded several troops in Iraq in a missile attack on Nov. 20 on U.S. forces who are based there.
The Ain Al-Asad Airbase in western Baghdad came under attack on Nov. 20, when Iran-backed militia members launched a “close-range ballistic missile” at U.S. and Coalition forces stationed at the Iraqi airbase, injuring eight people and inflicting “some minor damage” on the base’s infrastructure, a spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) told NTD News in an emailed statement.
U.S. forces immediately responded to the attack by directing an AC-130 gunship in the area to fire upon the suspected attackers, the CENTCOM spokesman said. The U.S. aircraft hit a vehicle used by the suspected Iran-backed militia members as well as several suspected militia fighters involved in the short-range missile attack.
The AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules fixed-wing cargo plane. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons.
The attack on Ain Al-Asad marks the 66th time U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack since Oct. 17. In total, at least 62 U.S. personnel have been injured across 32 separate attacks in Iraq and 34 in Syria.
Airstrikes Meant as Deterrent
The three prior U.S. airstrikes in Syria were preplanned operations, while the Nov. 20 action was not, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said during a Nov. 21 press briefing.
“We were able to identify the point of origin of these attacks because an AC-130 was already in the area and therefore was able to respond,” Ms. Singh said.
While most of the 66 attacks directed against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria were the result of rocket barrages and remotely piloted, explosive-laden one-way drones toward known U.S. positions. Ms. Singh said the Nov. 20 attack on Ain Al-Asad represents the first time since Oct. 17 that U.S. forces have specifically been targeted with a ballistic missile. She didn’t provide any additional details about the type of ballistic missile used in the recent attack.
The recent pattern of suspected Iran-backed militia attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria coincides with fighting between Israel and Hamas since Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
The United States has supported Israel’s military over the years and U.S. lawmakers are currently considering legislation to allocate an additional $14 billion in military resources for the Jewish state. On the other hand, the United States has long suspected Iran of providing weapons, training, and funding to numerous proxy factions throughout the Middle East, such as Hamas.
Ms. Singh has said the four recent U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East have been conducted with the intent to deter additional attacks on U.S. forces. While attacks on U.S. forces have continued since the first U.S. airstrike on Oct. 26, Ms. Singh pushed back on suggestions that the U.S. strikes aren’t having a deterring effect and suggested the U.S. response strikes have been at an appropriate level for the damage and injuries that U.S. forces have incurred since Oct. 17.
“I wouldn’t say that, again, it’s not working. I would say that we are being very deliberate in our strikes and what we target,” Ms. Singh said during the press briefing.
Ms. Singh noted that the injuries sustained by U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been “non-serious” and the damage to U.S. equipment and infrastructure has been “minor,” even as the U.S. side has destroyed a suspected weapons cache, a command base, a training facility, and now a vehicle and combatants linked to Iran-backed militia factions.
