BEIRUT — Coalition forces were slightly injured in Iraq in a spate of drone attacks over the last 24 hours at U.S. bases in Iraq as regional tensions flare following the deadly bombing of a hospital in Gaza.
Two drones targeted a base in western Iraq used by U.S. forces and one drone targeted a base in northern Iraq. U.S. forces intercepted all three, destroying two but only damaging the third, which led to minor injuries among coalition forces at the western base, according to a statement Wednesday by U.S. Central Command.
“In this moment of heightened alert, we are vigilantly monitoring the situation in Iraq and the region. U.S. forces will defend U.S. and coalition forces against any threat,” Central Command said in the release.
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have threatened to attack U.S. facilities there because of American support for Israel.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, issued a statement afterward claiming responsibility for the two attacks and saying it “heralds more operations” against the “American occupation.”
The salvos came at a time of increasing tension and fears of a broader regional conflict in the wake of the latest Hamas-Israel war.
Since the beginning of the war on Oct. 7, much attention has been focused on Hezbollah, the powerful Hamas ally across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon, and its formidable arsenal. The group has traded so-far limited strikes with Israel on the border in recent days.
“Our missiles, drones, and special forces are ready to direct qualitative strikes at the American enemy in its bases and disrupt its interests if it intervenes in this battle,” Ahmad “Abu Hussein” al-Hamidawi, head of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, said in a statement last Wednesday. He also threatened to launch missiles at Israeli targets.
Following Tuesday night’s blast that killed hundreds at a hospital in Gaza, the group issued another statement in which it blamed the United States and its support for Israel for the catastrophe and called for an end to the U.S. presence in Iraq. Hamas has said the explosion in Gaza was from an Israeli airstrike, while Israel has blamed a misfired rocket by Palestinian militants.
