This Dec. 29, 2019, aerial document picture taken from a helicopter presentations Ain al-Asad air base within the western Anbar desolate tract, Iraq.
Nasser Nasser/AP
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Nasser Nasser/AP
This Dec. 29, 2019, aerial document picture taken from a helicopter presentations Ain al-Asad air base within the western Anbar desolate tract, Iraq.
Nasser Nasser/AP
An unknown choice of U.S. provider contributors and a minimum of one Iraqi provider member suffered accidents in an assault by way of Iranian-backed militants on an air base in western Iraq, U.S. officers stated. A barrage of missiles and rockets focused the Ain al-Asad base on Saturday night time, U.S. Central Command stated in a commentary. Lots of the missiles had been intercepted by way of the bottom’s air protection techniques, in keeping with the army, however an untold quantity hit the bottom the place American citizens and Iraqis are stationed. A harm review is ongoing. A “quantity” of U.S. team of workers are being evaluated for disturbing mind accidents, CENTCOM stated, with out specifying what number of.
Closing month, 3 U.S. provider contributors had been wounded, one seriously, in a drone assault on their base in northern Iraq. The U.S. replied with airstrikes that it stated destroyed amenities and most likely killed a variety of Kataib Hezbollah militants in Iraq. It is the newest in a chain of back-and-forth assaults between Iran-aligned teams and U.S. forces within the area for the reason that Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel that ended in the fatal warfare in Gaza. Since then, the U.S. has issued warnings of a much wider warfare within the area. Hamas is a part of a regional alliance supported by way of Iran and loosely united by way of their resistance to Western powers and Israel.
NPR’s Tom Bowman contributed to this record.