Iraq Militants Target US-Led Coalition With Rockets Near Ain al-Asad Airbase - Spokesman

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2022) Iraqi militants targeted US-led Coalition forces with indirect rocket fire near the Ain al-Asad Airbase in Iraq's western Anbar province but there are no casualties, a Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) spokesperson told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"There was IDF (indirect fire) in the area not on the base itself. No casualties," the spokesperson said.

The Coalition spokesperson explained that five rounds of indirect rocket fire hit far off the military installation and the closest impact occurred two kilometers away. There has been no damage to the base, the spokesperson added.

The Coalition forces have been targeted in a series of attack in Iraq and Syria amid the second anniversary of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, who was killed in a US airstrike on the outskirts of Baghdad.

On Tuesday, the Coalition said it carried out strikes against rocket sites near Syria's Omar oil field that posed an imminent threat in the area.

Iraqi forces also repelled an attack on Tuesday when they shot down two explosives-laden drones targeting an air base in Western Iraq that houses US troops in the second such attack in 24 hours. A similar attack occurred on Monday, when the Iraqi air defense system shot down two explosives-laden drones over the diplomatic zone at the Baghdad airport.

An Iraqi security source provided Sputnik with several photos of the wreckage of Monday's attack that showed the inscription "Revenge for Soleimani" written on the drones.