A local official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Rudaw that the rockets were launched from the industrial subdistrict of al-Haqlaniyah in Haditha district. The source added that the target appeared to be Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase, but the initial rockets failed to hit the site.
The source later added that provincial police located and secured an abandoned vehicle suspected to be used to launch the attack.
Rudaw English cannot independently confirm whether the projectiles were intercepted or if they landed near the airbase.
No casualties were reported at the time of publication, and the US-led coalition did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
The attack comes less than a week after the US military said it launched a “defensive” strike at an Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary base in Babil province’s Jurf al-Nasr (formerly Jurf al-Sakhr) “targeting combatants attempting to launch one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems.”
Several rockets reportedly targeted the Ain al-Asad airbase in late July, days after a high-level meeting between Iraqi and US defense officials with the goal of enhanced cooperation and the ensured protection of US forces in Iraq. No group claimed responsibility.
Tensions between Israel and Iran-backed groups in the Middle East have been soaring since last week, especially after the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday. Iran has blamed Israel for the attack and vowed to retaliate, but Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Haniyeh’s assassination came a day after the Israeli army announced that it killed Fuad Shukr (also known as Sayyid Mushan), the right hand man of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the group’s senior military commander in an airstrike targeting the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Tensions have been high between Washington and Baghdad since the start of the latest chapter in the Israel-Palestine conflict in October. Pro-Iran Iraqi militias have carried out over 165 attacks on US troops based in Iraq and Syria in condemnation of the US government’s support of Israel.
The US previously has responded with several retaliatory strikes, strongly condemned by the Iraqi government.
Mushtaq Ramazan contributed to this article.
