The spokesman for the US Defense Department, John Kirby, considered that the US forces in Iraq are still facing danger, despite the transformation of their tasks to providing support and advice, stressing the right of these forces to self-defense.
5/1/2022–|Last update: 5/1/202205:55 PM (Mecca)
The outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, criticized the targeting of Iraqi camps, describing them as absurd behavior, in response to the renewed scenario of launching a number of missiles targeting Iraqi camps that include American forces, in conjunction with a prominent Shiite faction declaring an end to the armistice with American forces and adopting the option of a military solution.
Al-Kazemi said – during a cabinet session today, Wednesday – that these attacks disturb security and stability in the country, and reiterated the end of the combat role of the US forces and the international coalition forces in Iraq.
Al-Kadhimi said that “all the camps have been received by the Iraqi forces, and there are currently a number of advisers working alongside our security forces.”
A missile fell on Al-Nasr camp, west of Baghdad, where it was launched from Al-Jihad neighborhood, and the security forces also found a rocket launcher on which a 240mm missile did not launch, and it was dismantled and handed over to the Directorate of Forensic Evidence… pic.twitter.com/6Zk7aqOhGU
— Security Media Cell 🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) January 5, 2022
For two days, Iraq has witnessed several attacks on the two bases of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province, in the west of the country, and the Victoria base, which includes American soldiers at Baghdad airport, in conjunction with the commemoration of the second anniversary of the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Authority and the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in an American air strike on Baghdad International Airport road on January 3, 2020.
The latest of these attacks was the firing of 4 Katyusha rockets at the Victoria base at dawn today, launched from the Jihad neighborhood adjacent to the airport, according to Iraqi media, without giving details of the outcome of the attack.
Hours ago, an official in the US-led international military coalition said that Iraqi air defenses had shot down two rigged drones as they approached the Ain Al-Asad air base, which hosts US forces in Anbar Province.
And last Monday, an Iraqi security source said that the defense systems thwarted an attack by two drones on the Victoria base, coinciding with the commemoration of the second anniversary of the assassination of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, and the commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani.
military solution
For its part, Al-Nujaba Movement – one of the formations of the Shiite factions affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces – announced that it would not renew the ceasefire truce with the American forces in Iraq, pointing out that there is no other option for the current stage than a military solution.
The Secretary-General of the movement, Akram Al-Kaabi, said – during a speech he delivered yesterday night, Tuesday, at a ceremony held in the city of Basra in southern Iraq on the occasion of the second anniversary of the assassination of Soleimani and Al-Muhandis – “We will not accept from any party neither a truce nor a truce nor any other matter, because all opportunities have been taken advantage and the argument was cast on everyone There is no choice but a military solution.”
Al-Kaabi added that what he described as the resistance is able to withstand and confront the “forces of evil” and have the ability to do so, pointing out that they are determined to take revenge for the killing of Soleimani and Al-Muhandis.
And John Kirby, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense (Pentagon), said – in a press conference on Tuesday – that US forces in Iraq are still facing danger despite the shift in their tasks to providing support and advice, stressing the right of these forces to self-defense.