Rockets fired at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base housing US forces, security sources say
Two Katyusha rockets on Monday were fired at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, Reuters reported, citing security sources.
It was not clear if the attack caused any casualties or damage inside the base, the sources said.
One security source said the rockets fell inside the base.
The Middle East has been on high alert since the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday.
Iran and the so-called “axis of resistance” – a coalition of Tehran-backed armed groups – have blamed Israel and vowed retaliation. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
Tehran said on Monday that “no one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime” for Haniyeh’s killing.
US President Joe Biden held crisis talks with his national security team on Monday as fears grew that an Iranian counterattack on Israel could spark an all-out war in the Middle East.
The head of the US military command covering the Middle East, General Michael Kurilla, arrived in Israel and met Israel’s military chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi for a security assessment, an Israeli military statement said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 nations in a conference call on Sunday that any attack by Iran and Hezbollah could happen as early as Monday, US news site Axios reported.
