Two unmanned aerial vehicles have reportedly struck a major base at Baghdad International Airport, where occupying American forces and trainers are stationed, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi – reported that two combat drones struck the Victory base on Monday morning.
An Iraqi security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Iraq's Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network that a counter-rocket, artillery and mortar, or (C-RAM), system engaged and shot down the two fixed-wing armed drones without incident.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, which is the latest in a series of assaults that have targeted US occupation forces over the past few months.
The incident came on the second anniversary of the assassination of Lt. General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions in a US drone strike authorized by former US President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Two days after the attack, Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the US in the country.
Both commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
On January 8, 2020, the IRGC targeted the US-run Ain al-Asad in Iraq’s western province of Anbar after launching a wave of attacks to retaliate the assassination of General Soleimani.
According to the Pentagon, more than 100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrike on the base. The IRGC, however, says Washington uses the term to mask the number of the Americans who perished during the retaliation.
Iran has described the missile attack on Ain al-Assad as a “first slap.”