Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

US Forces Retaliate After Fresh Rocket Attacks TargetING an Iraqi-US Base, North of Baghdad

March 16, 2020

 

Site of a US attack on the Iraqi airport of Karbala, March 14, 2020

 

Pompeo warns Iraq will retaliate against assaults on Americans

Baghdad Post, March 16, 2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iraq Monday the US would retaliate "as necessary" against any new assaults on Americans after a series of deadly rocket attacks on a military base in Iraq, AFP reported.

Pompeo said in a phone call Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi the US "will not tolerate attacks and threats to American lives" and that the Iraqi government "must defend coalition personnel" against jihadist attacks, according to a statement issued Monday by the US State Department. 

A fresh spate of rockets targeted an Iraqi base north of Baghdad on Saturday where foreign troops are deployed, according to Iraqi and US security sources, wounding three members of the US-led coalition.

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/47522/Pompeo-warns-Iraq-will-retaliate-against-assaults-on-Americans

Iraq officials: Rocket attack hits base housing US troops

Iraqi security officials say a barrage of rockets has hit a base housing U.S.-led coalition troops north of Baghdad

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SAMYA KULLAB

Associated Press March 14, 2020, 7:56 PM

BAGHDAD --

A barrage of rockets hit a base housing U.S. and other coalition troops north of Baghdad on Saturday, Iraqi security officials said, just days after a similar attack killed three servicemen, including two Americans.

The U.S.-led coalition said at least 25 107mm rockets struck Camp Taji just before 11 a.m. Some struck the area where coalition forces are based, while others fell on air defense units, the Iraqi military statement said.

Five people were wounded in the attack, including three coalition members and two Iraqi soldiers, according to spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition Myles Caggins.

Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman, said later that three U.S. service members were wounded in the Camp Taji attack. Two of them were seriously wounded and are hospitalized.

He said Iraqi security forces have made an initial arrest.

Hoffman also repeated Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s comments from last week, saying, “You cannot attack and wound American service members and get away with it. We will hold them accountable.”

A statement from Iraq's military said the “brutal aggression” wounded a number of air defense personnel who remain in critical condition, but did not provide a number.

Iraqi forces later discovered seven platforms from which the rockets were in the Abu Azam area, north of Baghdad. Another 24 missiles were discovered in place and ready to launch.

The attack was unusual because it occurred during the day. Previous assaults on military bases housing U.S. troops typically occurred at night.

The earlier rocket attack against Camp Taji on Wednesday also killed a British serviceman. It prompted American airstrikes Friday against what U.S. officials said were mainly weapons facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group believed to be responsible.

However, Iraq's military said those airstrikes killed five security force members and a civilian, while wounding five fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization including an array of militias, including some Iran-backed groups.

Iran-backed Shiite militia groups vowed to exact revenge for Friday's U.S. strikes, signalling another cycle of tit-for-tat violence between Washington and Tehran that could play out inside Iraq.

Iraq's military also cautioned the U.S. from retaliating as it did on Friday without approval from the government. Taking unilateral action would "not limit these actions, but rather nurtures them, weakens the ability of the Iraqi state,” the statement said.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said Friday that counterstrikes on PMF bases were intended to send a message to Kataib Hezbollah and Iran that further assaults on coalition forces would not be tolerated. If that message is ignored, the U.S. could respond with additional strikes, he told reporters.

“If it doesn't work, we got plenty more places we can go and go to work, and I'm confident we'll do that,” he said.

America's killing of Iraqi security forces might also give Iran-backed militia groups more reason to stage counterattacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, analysts said.

“We can’t forget that the PMF is a recognized entity within the Iraqi security forces; they aren’t isolated from the security forces and often are co-located on the same bases or use the same facilities,” said Sajad Jiyad, a researcher and former managing director of the Bayan Center, a Baghdad-based think tank.

“Now the (Iran-backed) groups who supported the initial strike in Taji, who were the most outspoken, feel obliged, authorized, maybe even legitimized to respond, ostensibly to protect Iraqi sovereignty but really to keep the pressure up on Americans,” he added.

“There are no red lines anymore," Jiyad said.

Wednesday's attack on Camp Taji was the deadliest to target U.S. troops in Iraq since a late December rocket attack on an Iraqi base, which killed a U.S. contractor. That attack set in motion a series of attacks that brought Iraq to the brink of war.

After the contractor was killed, America launched airstrikes targeting Kataib Hezbollah, which in turn led to protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

A U.S. drone strike in Baghdad then killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top commander responsible for expeditionary operations across the wider Mideast. Iran struck back with a ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, the Islamic Republic’s most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The U.S. and Iran stepped back from further attacks after the Soleimani incident. A senior U.S. official said in late January, when U.S.-Iran tensions had cooled, that the killing of Americans constituted a red line that could spark more violence.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraq-officials-rocket-attack-hits-base-housing-us-69594755

***

Iraq base attack: Coalition and Iraqi troops hurt as Taji targeted again

BBC, 14 March 2020

Three service personnel from the US-led coalition in Iraq and two Iraqis have been injured in a rocket attack on a military base north of Baghdad, the coalition has said.

The Iraqi military said more than 30 rockets were fired at Camp Taji base.

This is the second attack this week on the base. On Wednesday, rockets killed two American troops and one British soldier there.

The US responded with air strikes targeting an Iranian-backed militia.

However, Iraqi officials say that Iraqi soldiers and policemen were killed in the strikes.

The Iraqi military says the latest attack on Taji must not be used by the US as a pretext for any action without Iraq's approval.

Taji base, about 15km (nine miles) north of Baghdad, hosts foreign troops from the US-led coalition, whose mission is to train and advise Iraqi security forces.

Iraq's Joint Operation Command said 33 Katyusha rockets were launched on the base. Seven rocket launchers and 24 unused rockets were later found nearby.

No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.

Wednesday's deadly attack on the base prompted US strikes targeting five weapons storage facilities across the country, the US defence department said.

Image copyrightUS Central Command Image caption The Camp Taji military base, after Wednesday's rocket attack that killed two Americans and a British soldier

The Iraqi military says three soldiers, two policemen and a civilian were killed in the US counter-strikes.

It said the US had carried out "a blatant attack" on Iraqi military sites in Babil province and an airport under construction in Karbala province. It also said the headquarters of the Popular Mobilisation (PM) forces - an umbrella militia which is officially part of the Iraqi security forces - had been hit.

Earlier, a US commander said Kataib Hezbollah - one of the most powerful groups in the PM - was likely to have fired the rockets.

The US accuses Iran-backed militias of 13 similar attacks on Iraqi bases hosting coalition forces in the past year.

The killing of an American civilian in one such incident in December triggered a round of violence which ultimately led Mr Trump to order the assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Kataib Hezbollah commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis the following month.

What's the background?

Tensions between arch-foes the US and Iran intensified last year. In late December, a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base killed a US civilian contractor, prompting retaliatory air strikes.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Soldiers at the base took shelter in bunkers

Media captionInside a US base hit by missiles in December

The US embassy in Baghdad was then attacked by crowds of protesters, and President Trump warned Iran it would "pay a very big price".

On 3 January, Mr Trump authorised a drone strike near Baghdad airport that killed Qasem Soleimani - commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps' Quds Force and architect of Iranian policy in the Middle East - and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Five days later, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US forces. The attack left more than 100 US troops with traumatic brain injuries.

There are about 5,000 US personnel and hundreds more from other countries in Iraq. They are deployed at the request of the government but the parliament passed a bill following Soleimani's killing demanding the invitation be rescinded.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51890492

***

Share the link of this article with your facebook friends