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Ambulances heard after drone attack on US-run base at Baghdad airport

In this file picture, US Army soldiers move through Qayara West Coalition base in Qayara, located some 50 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq. (Photo by AP)

An armed unmanned aerial vehicle has struck a major base at Baghdad International Airport, where American military forces and trainers are stationed, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. 

The Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network, citing a security source, reported that the attack targeted the Victory Base, and took place in the early hours of Tuesday.

Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units —better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi — reported that sirens went off, warning of an attack on the US-run base. Ambulance sirens could also be head.

Russia's Arabic-language RT Arabic television news network reported that counter-rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) systems operated by the US-led coalition forces could intercept and shoot down the drone.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, which is the latest in a series of assaults that have targeted US occupation forces over the past few months.

Anti-American sentiments have been on the rise in Iraq since the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions in a US drone strike authorized by former president Donald Trump near Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020.

Two days after the attack, Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the US in the country.

Both commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role in fighting the Daesh terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

On January 8, 2020, the IRGC targeted the US-run Ain al-Asad in Iraq’s western province of Anbar after launching a wave of attacks to retaliate the assassination of General Soleimani.

According to the Pentagon, more than 100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrike on the base. The IRGC, however, says Washington uses the term to mask the number of the Americans who perished during the retaliation.

Iran has described the missile attack on Ain al-Assad as a “first slap.”


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