Eight rockets landed on Sunday at an Iraqi air base sheltering American soldiers north of Baghdad, Iraqi military sources said, without specifying the source of the fire. Four Iraqi soldiers were injured, according to the Iraqi army. Iraqi military sources assured that no American soldier had been hit.
Almost all American troops have already left this base located in the Balad region, after an escalation between the United States and Iran on Iraqi soil. "There are only about fifteen American soldiers and one plane left in Balad," said an Iraqi military source. Iraqi security officials had previously said that 90% of US contractors deployed to the base had been evacuated.
Frequent rocket fire
Since the end of October, dozens of rockets have been fired at Iraqi bases sheltering American soldiers, killing an American subcontractor on December 27. The United States has accused pro-Iranian Iraqi armed factions of the shootings.
In retaliation, on December 29, the United States bombed Iraqi bases on the Syrian border, killing 25 fighters from Hachd al-Chaabi, a coalition of pro-Iran paramilitaries integrated into Iraqi troops.
Climbing between Iran and the United States
The escalation then reached an unprecedented level, with a drone attack on the orders of US President Donald Trump, who killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Hachd number two, Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis, at the airport gates from Baghdad on January 3.
Iran retaliated on January 8 by firing 22 ballistic missiles at the Iraqi air base in Ain al-Assad (west), which houses American troops, without causing casualties.
Since then, rocket fire against American interests - including the embassy in the Baghdad Green Zone - has resumed almost daily, while the Iraqi Parliament has voted for the departure of foreign troops from the country.
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