Alwaght- Several rockets has hit an airbase hosting American forces in Iraq’s western province of Anbar.
Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Hashd al-Sha’abi, reported that several rockets hit Ain al-Asad Airbase, located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, on Saturday morning.
The report said C-RAM systems as well as Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missile systems deployed at the base failed to intercept the rockets.
A number of Arabic-language television networks reported that Iraqi resistance fighters had staged a drone attack on the airbase.
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.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi army announced in a statement that two rockets had landed inside Ain al-Asad military base, but the attack had caused no casualties. No further information was provided.
The Iraqi al-Ahad television channel said at the time rocket sirens had gone off at the sprawling installation.
The development came only a day after at least six rockets struck the al-Balad Airbase, which houses US forces as well as warplanes and lies 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
Last week, an airbase similarly housing the United States-led coalition’s forces at Baghdad International Airport came under rocket fire.
The attacks come amid growing anti-US sentiment, which has intensified since last year's assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units, were targeted along with their companions on January 3, 2020 in a terror drone strike authorized by former US president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport.
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.
On January 8, 2020, the IRGC targeted the US-run Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western province of Anbar after launching a wave of attacks to retaliate the assassination of Gen. 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-Asad air base as a “first slap.”
Last month, Badr al-Ziyadi, a member of the defense and security committee at the Iraqi parliament, called for the evacuation of American troops, and told Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency that the US seeks to keep its forces in Iraq with no intention of ever withdrawing.
Two lawmakers with the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance at the legislature also warned of US intentions for a permanent military presence in Iraq.
The MPs stressed that the Iraqi security forces are capable of protecting the country, adding the US combat forces have no role in fighting terrorism in Iraq.
On April 8, Iraq and the US said they had agreed on the eventual withdrawal of US “combat” troops from Iraq, and that the two sides would hold talks to work out the timing.
The mission of US forces is now supposed to be focused on what is claimed to be “training” Iraqi troops to fight Daesh.
Iraqi resistance groups have warned that they will treat the American troops as occupying forces and take up arms against them if they refuse to leave their country.
