Reports of attack on Erbil airbase ‘false’: sources

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi militia group on Saturday said it carried out a drone strike on Harir airbase in Erbil province, but two senior sources denied the claim as “false,” the morning after the United States struck multiple militia targets in Iraq and Syria in a retaliation campaign.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that has frequently targeted US forces since mid-October, claimed to have struck Harir airbase with drones. 

Two senior sources told Rudaw that no such attack took place, saying that “reports of an attack are false.”

Washington launched a large-scale military campaign on Friday night against IRGC-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and affiliated militia groups in Iraq and Syria, striking more than 85 targets with over 125 precision munitions, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). President Joe Biden said these attacks will continue in both countries.

The strikes were ordered in retaliation for the deaths of three American soldiers in a drone strike carried out by pro-Iran militias on a military base in Jordan last Sunday. 

The deaths in Jordan were the first direct American casualties in more than 165 rocket and drone attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria since mid-October by Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups condemning Washington’s support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest tally from the Pentagon. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

A military base housing international troops near Erbil’s airport on the northwestern edge of the city and Harir airbase some 50 kilometers to the northeast are frequent targets.

Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.