Several US personnel appear to have been injured in a suspected rocket attack on US and coalition forces at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said, adding that officials at the base were conducting a damage assessment after the attack.
U.S. military officials told CBS News that there were no known deaths and that the service members’ injuries were not reported to be critical.
It appeared that two Katyusha rockets were fired from a modified box truck at Al Asad, the officials said.
A White House official said President Biden has been briefed on the attack.
“The briefing focused on the threats posed by Iran and its proxies against Israel and US officials in the region,” the White House said in a statement. “The President and Vice President were briefed on the attack at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. They discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack on our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing.”
The attack came under growing concern of a larger regional war in the Middle East following last week’s killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said on Monday that the region was at a “critical moment”, and he called on all parties in the Middle East to work to ease tensions.
Al Asad has been a target for strikes before, especially in early 2020, when Iran launched a missile attack against the base in retaliation for the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. More than 100 US troops were diagnosed traumatic brain injuries in the aftermath of the Iranian missile attack.
This is news and will be updated.
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