On Tuesday, the Pentagon said the Iraqi government must “ensure the safety” of US troops and appeared to threaten airstrikes if there are more attacks on US bases in the region.
The warning came after US bases in Iraq and Syria came under drone and rocket attacks for the first time since early February.
“These are the first attacks on coalition facilities since February 4th. These attacks put coalition and Iraqi personnel at risk,” said Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
“We call on the government of Iraq to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of US forces in Iraq and Syria against attacks from these groups. If these attacks continue, we will not hesitate to defend our forces, as we have done in the past,” Ryder added.
Between October 2023 and early February, US bases in Iraq and Syria came under hundreds of attacks, which started in response to US support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. The US launched several rounds of airstrikes in response and killed several members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of mostly Shia militias that’s part of Iraq’s security forces.
After three US troops were killed in a drone attack on Tower 22 in Jordan, the Iraqi government and Iran pressured Iraqi Shia militias to stop targeting US bases. The renewed attacks could be in response to the lack of any concrete plan for the US to withdraw from Iraq.
Also on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said that a weekend blast at a PMF base in Iraq was caused by munitions stored on site. The explosion killed one PMF member and was initially blamed on airstrikes.
