Drones hit US occupation base near Iraq’s Erbil

Drones have struck an Iraqi air base that hosts US military forces and aircraft in Iraq’s Kurdistan region in the latest attack against US troops amid Washington’s unwavering support for Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a Thursday statement published on its Telegram channel claimed responsibility for the attack on the al-Harir Air Base, situated 45 kilometers (27.9 miles) north of the Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq.

It noted that two drones were launched at the base and “directly hit their targets.” The group added the operation came in retaliation for US support of Israel’s bloody military campaign in the Gaza Strip, where more than 10,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed. 

There were no immediate reports about the extent of damage at the military facility, and possible casualties.

Earlier, Abu Alaa al-Walaei, secretary general of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada anti-terror resistance group, emphasized that retaliatory assaults by Iraqi resistance fighters on American occupation forces will continue unabated.

He underlined that the strikes on US military positions in Iraq will stop only when the Israeli strikes on Gaza end, and humanitarian aid convoys reach locals in the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave without any restrictions.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said on Thursday that the US forces have been attacked 46 times since October 17.

That includes 24 attacks in Iraq and 22 in Syria, she added.

A total of 56 troops have been injured in the attacks, the Pentagon says, claiming that all injuries were minor and every service member has since returned to duty.

The attacks come amid Washington’s all-out support for Israel in its war on Gaza. 

The US House of Representatives on November 2 passed a standalone $14.3-billion military assistance package for Israel. The legislation, however, is yet to clear the Senate. 

Washington, which has backed Tel Aviv’s ferocious attacks on Gaza as a means of “self-defense,” has also been casting its veto against the United Nations Security Council resolutions that called on the occupying regime to cease its aggression.