Tensions In Iraq Continue To Escalate Following Another Rocket Attack

A base housing U.S. troops in Iraq was attacked with rockets on Wednesday, resulting in minor injuries, while the U.S.-backed coalition in Syria thwarted a drone attack on Syria’s largest oilfield, the U.S. and Kurdish commandments said.  

In Iraq, the Ain Al-Assad Air Base was attacked by 14 rockets at around noon local time, Col. Wayne Marotto, Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), said. The rockets landed on the base and in the perimeter, and force protection defensive measures were activated. In an update later in the day, Col. Marotto said that there was 100 percent accountability at Ain Al-Assad Air Base after the rocket attack. Two personnel sustained minor injuries, while damages are still being assessed.  

“Each attack against the GoI, KRI and the Coalition undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi National sovereignty,” Col. Marotto noted. 

Meanwhile, in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – backed by the United States and led by Kurdish fighters – said an attack was foiled on the Al-Omar oilfield in the oil-rich eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor. 

"Early reports confirm that the attack was foiled and did not cause any damages,” said an initial statement from the SDF carried by The Associated Press. 

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Attacks in Iraq and Syria have intensified in the past week. The Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq was hit with at least three rockets late Monday, presumably targeting U.S. forces stationed there, but causing no casualties. As rockets hit an Iraqi airbase housing U.S. personnel, the leader of an Iran-affiliated Iraqi militia has vowed to take revenge on the United States for the killing of four militiamen last month in an airstrike along the border between Iraq and Syria. 

Last week, the Al-Omar oilfield near a U.S. military base in Syria’s Deir Ezzor region came under rocket attack, hours after the U.S. military had said it had carried out airstrikes against storage facilities of Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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