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Rockets hit Iraq base hosting foreign troops: military
BAGHDAD, March 17, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A pair of rockets hit an Iraqi base
hosting US-led coalition and NATO troops, Iraq’s military said Tuesday, the
third attack on installations hosting foreign forces inside a week.
The rockets slammed into the Besmaya base south of Baghdad late Monday
night, a statement by the military said, making no mention of casualties.
Spanish forces linked to the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State
group, as well as NATO training forces, are present in Besmaya.
The last week has seen a renewed spike in rockets hitting Iraqi bases
hosting foreign forces, with three coalition troops killed on March 11 in a
similar attack on the Taji airbase, which was hit again on March 14.
Since late October, there have been 24 rocket attacks on the US embassy in
Baghdad or bases where foreign troops are deployed, killing a total of three
American military personnel, one British soldier and one Iraqi soldier.
No attacks have been claimed but Washington has blamed Kataeb Hezbollah, a
hardline faction in the Hashed al-Shaabi — a military network incorporated
into the Iraqi state.
The US has long insisted Baghdad should do more to reign in such factions
and prevent them from targeting American troops and diplomats.
But Washington took a much tougher line in December after a US contractor
was killed in a rocket attack, launching retaliatory air strikes against
Kataeb Hezbollah.
The faction’s supporters then surrounded and briefly stormed the US
embassy. Days later, Washington killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani
and Hashed deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike on Baghdad.
Outraged, Iran launched cruise missiles at the largest Iraqi base hosting
US troops and the Iraqi parliament voted to oust all foreign forces from the
country.
The parliamentary vote has yet to be implemented by a government.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1447 hrs