The US military foiled an attack on its forces in Iraq on Wednesday, intercepting two drones before they could attack, two US officials said after the first such attack on US forces in Iraq in more than a year.
The officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to say who was suspected of the attack, but Washington is on high alert over the activities of Iran-backed groups amid rising tensions in the region over the war between Israel and Hamas.
Last week, Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target US interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Pentagon quickly sent air defenses and munitions to Israel, the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East, but U.S. forces did not join the fight.
The one-way attack drones were intercepted as they tried to target Iraq’s al Asad air base, which hosts American troops, officials said.
In Iraq, tension over the war in Gaza is high. Its top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemned Israel last week and called on the world to confront the “terrible brutality” of Gaza.
Leaders of Iraqi armed groups blamed Israel for Tuesday’s attack on a hospital in Gaza that left hundreds dead. Some of them condemned the United States for supporting Israel.
Source: Terra
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