WASHINGTON: The White House on Sunday that the United States was taking the attack by Iran-backed forces on a US base in Iraq extremely seriously and would respond to establish deterrence in these situations.
The US military said multiple ballistic missiles and rockets were fired by Iranian-backed forces at Al-Assad Airbase in western Iraq late Saturday.
White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said it was a very serious attack, using a capability of ballistic missiles that posed a genuine threat.
He said that the US is going to respond to establish deterrence in these situations, and to hold these groups accountable that continue to attack American troops.
“You can be assured that we are taking this extremely seriously,” he noted.
Since mid-October, there have been dozens of attacks on US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Most of the attacks have been claimed by Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose US support for Israel in the war in Gaza.
The group in a press release on Saturday said that it had carried out the latest attack.
The use of ballistic missiles shows an escalation in the attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, who had previously been targeted with drones and rockets.
Saturday’s air base attack comes amid increasing tensions in the Middle East following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
