Pro-Iran group claims attacking US troops in Rojava

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi militia on Wednesday claimed it targeted US troops in northeast Syria (Rojava) with rockets. The pro-Iran group has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks against American forces in Iraq and Syria. 

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said on its Telegram channel that it hit US troops based at Abu Hajar airport in Rmelan, Rojava with a “barrage of rockets,” adding that it hit the targets “directly.” 

The US army has yet to confirm the attack. 

Attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have soared in the past eight days over Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Iran-backed militias have launched repeated rocket and drone strikes on bases in both countries where US troops are present as an integral part of an international coalition to fight the Islamic State (ISIS). 

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder on Tuesday said his country’s forces have been attacked with suicide drones and rockets in Iraq and Syria between October 17-24 at least 13 times, blaming pro-Iran groups for the assaults without naming them. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Iraq’s prime minister to pursue the attackers of US bases and troops in Iraq, according to the State Department. 

Washington has over 900 soldiers in Rojava which provide the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with military support in the fight against ISIS and training.