BAGHDAD — An armed drone targeted al-Harir airbase hosting U.S. forces in northern Iraq, two security sources said on Wednesday, following sirens warning of a possible attack at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
The sirens sounded at the U.S. embassy on Wednesday evening, several people in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone that houses the embassy said, but there were no reports of projectile impacts or casualties.
A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy and an Iraqi government security official did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A group called the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” claimed responsibility for the latest attack, saying in a statement that it targeted al-Harir airbase with two drones.
U.S. and international forces based in Iraq and across the border in Syria have been on high alert amid dozens of attacks on their bases in the weeks since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
U.S. officials said most of the attacks have failed to reach their targets due to robust defence systems. They blame the attacks on groups backed by Iran.
The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” has claimed many of the attacks, saying they were in response to U.S. backing for Israel in its war on Hamas, in which Palestinian health officials say more than 10,000 people, 40% of them children, have been killed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani has pledged to pursue those responsible for the attacks, including on three military bases in Iraq hosting coalition advisers. Among the bases were Ain al-Asad in western Iraq, a military base near Baghdad’s international airport and Harir in Erbil.
— Reporting by Timour Azhari, Editing by Grant McCool, Daniel Wallis and Diane Craft
