US Military Base in Syria Attacked For First Time in Months

The new rocket attack comes after a lull in such strikes since February and against the background of heightened tensions in the region between Israel and Iran.

An estimated five rockets were launched from Iraq towards a US military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday, according to Iraqi security sources and a US official cited by Reuters.

It is believed the attack was launched from Zummar, an Iraqi town on the border with Syria.

An unnamed US official said a "failed rocket attack" targeted a coalition base in Rumalyn, but no American personnel were injured. It was not clear if the rockets failed to hit the base or were destroyed.

A search operation launched by Iraqi forces deployed in the area led to the discovery of a vehicle described as a small truck that they claim was used in the attack. The truck with a rocket launcher fixed on its back was parked in Zummar and ignited in a blast from unfired rockets, according to a cited army official, who added that there were warplanes in the sky at the same time.

The aforementioned American official claimed that US-led coalition aircraft in Iraq and Syria carried out a strike against the launcher.

An explosion occurred at the Kalsu military base south of Baghdad in the Iraqi province of Babil, an Iraqi security service source told Sputnik.

“An explosion, the nature and causes of which are still unclear, occurred at the Kalsu military base in the north of Babil province,”… pic.twitter.com/2WWm6FuLcX

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) April 20, 2024

The rocket strike on the US base is the first since early February, when a lull occurred in attacks on American troops attributed by Washington to Iran-backed militias.

This comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States, where he met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Shortly after the rocket attack, a Monday post on a Telegram group affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah claimed that, “What happened a short while ago is the beginning.” The post added that armed factions in Iraq intend to resume attacks due to the lack of progress on talks to facilitate the exit of US troops during Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s visit to the US.

Since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict intensified, attacks on both US-led international coalition bases in Iraq and American troops in Syria noticeably escalated, with Shia armed groups in Iraq claiming responsibility for them. However, in light of ongoing talks about the future of the US forces in Iraq, they were put on pause.

Since the US formally ended its combat mission in Iraq in 2021, it has maintained around 2,500 soldiers deployed there as part of so-called “train and assist” personnel.

The Iraqi government announced plans to start formal talks with Washington about ending the American-led anti-terrorism coalition’s mission in the country in January after a US airstrike killed militia commander Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi. Al-Saidi was the leader of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces-affiliated militia that helped rout IS* and other terrorists across Syria and Iraq between 2013 and 2017.

According to varying sources, there are anywhere between 900 and 2,000 US soldiers in Syria to ostensibly conduct counterterrorism operations against IS. Syria has repeatedly demanded that the US end its occupation, with Damascus and its allies emphasizing that the presence of American troops is "illegal."

A recent joint statement by Biden and al-Sudani said that, "The two leaders affirmed they would review […] factors to determine when and how the mission of the Global Coalition in Iraq would end."

The current rocket strike comes after a huge blast occurred at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday. It killed a member of an Iraqi security force. The explosion took place at the Kalsu military base in Babylon province, where regular army, police, and members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashed Al-Shaabi, are stationed, as per Iraqi security forces cited by Arab media.

*IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL, is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries.