U.S. forces under fire in Middle East as America slides towards brink
U.S. forces under fire in Middle East
US military are being fired upon in the Middle East as the US approaches the precipice
FILE IMAGE: This image from southern Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke in the Gaza Strip.
By Phil Stewart, Ahmed Rasheed, and Idrees Ali
BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It’s possible that a malfunctioning drone in Iraq prevented America from being drawn farther into an increasingly intense Middle East conflict.
According to two U.S. officials familiar with the situation, the drone was launched at the Erbil air base by an Iranian-backed militia before sunrise on October 26. It managed to get past American air defenses and crash into the second floor of the barracks housing American personnel at around 5 a.m.
But the device laden with explosives failed to detonate and in the end only one service member suffered a concussion from the impact, said the officials, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about the attack. The U.S. had got lucky, they added, as the drone could have caused carnage had it exploded.
Incident was among at least 40 separate drone and rocket attacks
The incident was among at least 40 separate drone and rocket attacks that have been launched at U.S. forces by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria over the past three weeks in response to American support for Israel in the Gaza war, according to Pentagon data and the two U.S. officials.
The bombardment has only caused a few dozen minor injuries so far, with many of the rockets and one-way attack drones intercepted by U.S. air defenses in Iraq and Syria, where a total of 3,400 American troops are based.
Former U.S. assistant secretary of state David Schenker of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy warned that although the U.S. and its allies did not seem to seek a direct confrontation, the risks were mounting. “A very realistic concern,” he said, is the potential for a significant strike that pulls America into a battle.
He stated of the Syrian and Iraqi militias, “I think they are calibrating the attacks to harass rather than kill en masse U.S. troops.” “But there’s a lot more they can do.”
It’s uncertain how President Joe Biden would react in the event of a significant attack that claimed many American lives. Ahead of the presidential election of next year, Biden has so far attempted to
The conflict began on October 7, when militants from Hamas, the militant organization that controls the Palestinian enclave of Gaza and receives funding from Iran, stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,400 people—mostly civilians—and kidnapping over 240 more. Over 10,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s constant bombardment of the coastal region since then, many of them were youngsters.
Iran has hailed the attack on Israel on October 7, but it claims no part in the Hamas raid.
In an effort to pressure Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to take decisive action against the militias operating there and prevent further escalation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Iraq on Sunday, the scene of the majority of attacks against American forces.
