“Tonight [July 30], U.S. forces in Iraq conducted a defensive airstrike in the Musayib in Babil Province, targeting combatants attempting to launch one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems (OWAUAS),” a US defense official told Rudaw English on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday morning.
“Based on recent attacks in Iraq and Syria, U.S. Central Command assessed that the OWAUAS posed a threat to U.S. and Coalition Forces,” he added.
The United States struck a base belonging to the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq’s Babil province late Tuesday; four fighters were killed in the attack, according to media reports.
The PMF announced early Wednesday that a drone strike had targeted one of its brigades stationed in Jurf al-Nasr (formerly Jurf al-Sakhr), without blaming any party.
For its part, Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement that a US strike targeted a “group of drone experts” working on reconnaissance drones that were monitoring the borders of Karbala.
The attack was launched from a base in Kuwait, according to Kataib Hezbollah, who also warned Kuwaiti officials not to allow its land to be a launchpad for “American criminal actions.”
The attack comes days after several rockets were launched at the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar, which houses US troops, without causing material damage. The attack was the first on the base reported since April.
A “logistic support depot” of the PMF exploded in southern Baghdad without casualties on July 18. In April an explosion at Babil’s Kalsu military base, which houses PMF fighters, killed one and injured several others.
The PMF was targeted by US retaliatory airstrikes earlier this year after they were blamed for a drone strike that killed three US soldiers in a base in Jordan.
Attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria were more frequent from October 2023 to February, following the start of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip against Palestinian Hamas. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran.
In January, US overnight airstrikes on facilities of pro-Iran armed groups, mainly Kataib Hezbollah, near Anbar province’s Qaim district and Babil’s Jurf al-Nasr, killed one fighter. The United States said the strikes were a “direct response” to a missile strike by the pro-Iran groups on Ain al-Asad airbase.
Since then, attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have largely halted.
Washington’s previous strikes drew strong condemnation from the Iraqi government, with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s office describing them as “unacceptable” and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, calling on the international community to prevent aggressions against the country’s stability.