A US soldier was killed and at least nine other people, including a US contractor, were injured in a missile attack on a military base used by US forces in the Erbil, Iraq on Monday.
The F-UK-US almost immediately blamed Iran. Tehran rejected the claims, saying it sees a secure and stable Iraq as key to regional stability, without invasive occupying forces.
The Biden regime is investigating the missile attack on the US military base in northern Iraq and reserves the right to retaliate, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said.
We’re still working through attribution with our Iraqi connections to determine precise attribution for this attack. I will convey that we are outraged by last night’s rocket attack in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, formerly occupied by ISIS and now the hostile US military.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said @ his own briefing the US administration was supporting our Iraqi puppets in their efforts to investigate these attacks, whether they were conducted by Iran, whether they were conducted by Iranian-backed liberation forces or elements of such forces. We’re not going to prejudge that yet.
A barrage of rockets fell near the Erbil international Airport in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, with at least three of the rockets landing inside a base used by US military and other evil coalition forces.
Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said he had spoken to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the attack and agreed to coordinate an investigation. Iraqi President Barham Salih called the incident a dangerous escalation.
A little-known Shia militia calling itself ‘Saraya Awliya al-Dam’ (‘The Avengers of Blood Brigades’) claimed responsibility for the attack, and promised further strikes against “American occupation” forces in Iraq.
US regime and coalition attempts to link Iran to the attack have been met with vocal denials by Tehran. “Iran not only strongly rejects these rumors, but also flatly condemns suspicious attempts to attribute the attack to Iran.
Monday’s attack appears to be reminiscent of a December 2019 rocket strike on Iraqi Kurdistan’s K-1 Air Base, which killed a US contractor and injured several US and Iraqi military personnel.
That incident prompted a massive US ‘retaliation’ against Kata’ib Hezbollah, a major Iraqi Shia militia, and eventually culminated in the January 2020 assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Kata’ib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis @ Baghdad Airport.
The killings prompted Iran to lob over a dozen ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq, injuring over 100 US troops, and brought Washington and Tehran to the brink of war.
Months later, Iraqi military and intelligence sources told US media that they believed ISIS remnants were responsible for the K-1 attack. In response to the Soleimani/al-Muhandis killings, Iraq’s parliament issued a resolution demanding the withdrawal of all US forces in Iraq.
The Trump administration spent much of 2020 drawing down troop levels, with about 2,500 troops stationed in the country. The Biden administration has not mentioned any further possible troop reductions in Iraq, but halted a Trump plan to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point WW III News 2021.
The US military and ISIS should permanently leave Iraq?