An Iraqi employee of a U.S. company responsible for maintaining F-16 warplanes was injured in a rocket attack Feb. 20 on an Iraqi air base north of Baghdad. The clash between Iraqi government forces and local tribal forces, which were operating against the Islamic State group IS at the Time, left seven people dead on both sides.
According to AFP on Feb. 21, an Iraqi military statement said Iraqi forces were conducting strike operations against an Islamic State IS jihadist group with the assistance of local tribesmen in Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, when the shelling occurred yesterday, during which five jihadists and two tribal loyalists were killed.
The base’s F-16s cooperated in the fight against IS
Iraqi security sources told AFP that the rocket attack came as F-16s from Iraq’s Balad airbase were supporting military operations against IS in Tamiyah, 60 kilometers further south.
They added that the first rocket hit part of the base where employees of Sallyport, the company that maintains the F-16s purchased by Iraq, are based. “One Iraqi employee was injured,” one of the sources said.
The same source said a second rocket was aimed at the base’s runway and a third landed in nearby woods. A brief Iraqi army statement reported that the attackers fired four rockets at the base.
No person or organization has claimed responsibility for the shelling, and it is unclear whether the attack was linked to a joint operation between Iraqi forces and local tribesmen against IS.
A security source said Iraqi forces responded immediately by firing shells in the direction of the source of the fire 12 kilometers east of the air base that was attacked.
Pro-Iranian faction tells international coalition to pull back
Western military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq have been frequent targets of rocket or bomb attacks, which Americans and Iraqi officials have blamed on armed factions close to Iran, AFP said.
The U.S.-led international coalition drastically reduced its numbers after assisting Iraqi forces in defeating ISIS forces in 2017, as demanded by pro-Iranian Iraqis. The number of foreign military personnel has been cut almost in half, with only 3,500 currently deployed in Iraq.
IS ambushes killings
But international coalition forces are still assisting Iraqi forces through intelligence or airstrikes against small IS units lurking in the desert and mountains.
Nearly a month ago, two suicide bombers killed more than 30 people in a crowded commercial square in Baghdad, the bloodiest attack in the Iraqi capital in three years, for which IS has claimed responsibility.
Days later, more than 10 fighters from Iraq’s state-integrated paramilitary group Popular Mobilization (Hashd al-Shaabi) were killed in an IS ambush north of the capital.
Since then, Iraqi security forces have stepped up their hunt for ISIS jihadists. The prime minister announced the elimination of Abou Yasser al-Issaoui, the ISIS leader in Iraq, on Jan. 28.
Russian airstrikes against IS in Syria
In addition, in Syria, the Russian air force conducted at least 130 airstrikes yesterday and the day before in areas where ISIS jihadist forces are present. According to the non-governmental organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 21 IS jihadists were killed in the massive airstrikes. Previously, eight pro-Damascus regime militiamen died in IS attacks.
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