No fewer than 10 rockets targeted a military base in western Iraq that hosts U.S.-led coalition troops on Wednesday, the coalition and the Iraqi military said. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties.
The rockets struck Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province at 7:20 a.m., spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto said.
Later, the Iraqi military released a statement saying the attack did not cause significant losses and that security forces had found the launch pad used for the missiles.
It was the first attack since the U.S. struck Iran-aligned militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border last week, killing killed one militiaman and stoking fears of a possible repeat of a series of tit-for-tat attacks that escalated last year, culminating in the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani outside the Baghdad airport.
Iran targeted the Al Asad base last year in a retaliatory strike for the U.S. killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.
The attack comes two days before Pope Francis’ is scheduled to visit Iraq in a much-anticipated trip that will include Baghdad, southern Iraq and in the northern city of Irbil.
Last week’s US strike along the border had been in response to a spate of rocket attacks that targeted the American presence, including one that killed a coalition contractor from the Philippines outside the Irbil airport.
After that attack, the Pentagon said the strike was a “proportionate military response” taken after consulting coalition partners.
