Rockets hit Ain al-Asad airbase

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Three rockets hit Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province on Monday afternoon, the US-led coalition has confirmed.

The rockets landed within the perimeter of the base at around 2:45pm, coalition spokesperson Col. Wayne Marotto tweeted, saying there were no casualties as a result of the attack.

Iraq's Security Media Cell said that security forces have opened an investigation into the attack. 

An abandoned truck carrying the rocket launcher has seized, it added. 

The base, which hosts US-led coalition personnel and Iraqi army troops, was hit by a rocket on June 20.  It was also attacked in May.

Attacks on Iraqi bases, especially those hosting US troops, have increased since the US assassinated top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020. 

The US has hit back at the Iran-backed militias behind the attacks, killing four fighters stationed on the Iraq-Syria border last week, just two days after drones attacked an area close to the new US consulate in Erbil.

The strikes targeted two operational and weapons storage facilities in Syria and one in Iraq. The US claimed they were used by several Iran-backed groups such as Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.