WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD: The United States is taking the attack by Iran-backed fighters on a base hosting US forces in Iraq over the weekend “extremely seriously,” the White House said on Sunday.

“Multiple ballistic missiles and rockets” were fired by Iranian-backed militants at Al Assad Airbase in western Iraq late on Saturday, the US military said, leading to one Iraqi and possible American casualties.

“It was a very serious attack, using a capability of ballistic missiles that posed a genuine threat,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said.

“We are going to respond... to establish deterrence in these situations, and to hold these groups accountable that continue to attack us,” Finer added during his appearance on ABC’s This Week.

“You can be assured that we are taking this extremely seriously.” Most of the projectiles fired at the base were intercepted by air defence systems, Finer and the Pentagon said.

Since mid-October, there have been dozens of attacks on the approximately 2,500 US troops in Iraq and the around 900 in Syria, deployed there with other coalition forces to fight the militant Islamic State group.

Most incidents, including Saturday’s attack, have been claimed by “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose US support for Israel in Gaza.

The use of ballistic missiles marks an escalation in the attacks, which had previously been carried out with lower-tech rockets and drones. Saturday’s air base attack comes amid soaring tensions in the Middle East following the outbreak of the Gaza crisis.

Nuri al-Maliki meets US envoy

The US ambassador to Iraq met on Sunday with former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi politician’s office said, a day after pro-Iran militants struck US forces in the country.Maliki, an influential figure in Iraqi politics and one of the top leaders of a pro-Iranian bloc, discussed with Romanowski “the future of bilateral relations” with the United States and “the escalation in regional tensions”, a statement from his office said.

The meeting in Baghdad with Ambassador Alina Romanowski comes amid soaring regional tensions, the fallout from more than three months of Israeli aggression in Gaza.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024