BAGHDAD: The attack – which Iraqi sources said left at least four dead – was the first by US troops in Iraq since February, when the US military said it had killed a pro-Iranian commander involved in attacks on troops there.
Hashed al-Shaabi – an alliance of former pro-Iranian paramilitary groups that have been integrated into Iraqi security forces – earlier said apparent missile attacks had left four dead at a base in Babylon, but made no mention of an attempt to launch drones from the country.
A security source confirmed that four people had been killed, adding that the death toll was expected to rise.
Last week, several rockets were fired at the Ain al-Assad base, which hosts troops of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group, officials said.
And on July 16, two drones were launched at the same facility, one of which was “successfully destroyed” while the other hit the base and caused “minimal damage,” according to the Pentagon.
Previously, US troops in Iraq and Syria had not been targeted since April. However, attacks against them were much more frequent in the early months of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, when they were targeted more than 175 times.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups, claimed most of the attacks, saying they were in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
In January, a drone strike blamed on these groups killed three American soldiers at a base in Jordan.
Since then, attacks against US troops have largely stopped.
The US military has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria.
The coalition was sent to Iraq at the government’s request in 2014 to help fight the Islamic State group, which has taken over large swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Remnants of IS are still carrying out attacks and ambushes in both countries.
US ‘defensive’ strike kills four in Iraq
