BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities have arrested five suspects over a recent attack on a military base hosting US troops that wounded seven Americans, officials said Thursday.
The rocket attack Monday was the latest in a series targeting Ain Assad base in recent weeks, which hosts American troops as well as other personnel from the US-led coalition against Daesh.
The Iraqi government’s security media unit said in a statement that after “in-depth investigation and witness statements... five people involved in the illegal act were arrested.”
The statement did not provide further details on the suspects or whether they were affiliated with any groups.
According to a US defense official “five US service members and two US contractors were injured in the attack,” in which two rockets struck the base.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin blamed the attack on “an Iranian-backed Shiite militia group,” but said investigations were ongoing to determine which group.
Such attacks were frequent early in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but had largely halted until recently.
There have also been two other recent attacks targeting Ain Assad base — on July 16 and 25.
Monday’s rocket attack came at a time of already heightened tensions in the Middle East, with the region awaiting an expected counterattack by Iran on Israel following the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
The rocket attack came after US forces carried out a strike in Iraq last week that a US official said targeted combatants who were attempting to launch drones deemed a threat to American and allied troops.
The strike, which Iraqi sources said left four dead, was the first by American forces in Iraq since February.
Attacks against US troops were much more common in the first few months of the Gaza war, when they were targeted more than 175 times.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of pro-Iran groups, claimed the majority of those attacks, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians.
Iraq says five arrested over attack on US troops
https://arab.news/8a7wx
Iraq says five arrested over attack on US troops
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin blamed the attack on “an Iranian-backed Shiite militia group,” but said investigations were ongoing to determine which group
Soleimani warned Al-Assad about ‘spy’ Luna Al-Shibl: Al-Majalla
LONDON: The late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani confronted Syria’s National Security Bureau chief Ali Mamlouk in late 2019 after seeing Luna Al-Shibl leaving his office. Al-Majalla magazine claims its reporters reviewed a document containing the full Arabic transcript of their exchange.
Soleimani reportedly asked, “Who is this?” and Mamlouk replied, “She is Louna Al-Shibl, the president’s adviser.”
The Quds Force commander pressed further: “I know, I know… but who is she really? Where did she work?”
According to Al-Majalla, a sister publication of Arab News, he said her former salary was “ten thousand dollars,” compared with her current salary of “five hundred thousand Syrian pounds,” before asking: “Does it make sense for someone to leave ten thousand dollars for five hundred thousand pounds? She is a spy.”
Both Soleimani and Maher Al-Assad, commander of the Syrian army’s powerful Fourth Division, had warned the ousted president’s inner circle about Al-Shibl, Al-Majalla reported.
‘Suspicious’ car crash
On July 2, 2024, Al-Shibl was involved in what officials described as a traffic accident on the Damascus-Dimas highway. She was hospitalized and died four days later.
But Al-Majalla reported that photos of her armored BMW showed only minor damage, raising immediate questions among those close to the case.
Eyewitnesses told the magazine that the crash was intentional. One said, “a car approached and rammed her vehicle,” and before her bodyguard could exit, “a man attacked her and struck her on the back of the head,” causing paralysis that led to her death.
She was first taken to Al-Saboura clinic, then transferred to Al-Shami Hospital. Several senior regime-linked figures, including businessman Mohammed Hamsho and an aide to Maher Al-Assad, were present when her condition deteriorated. One witness told Al-Majalla that when her bodyguard tried to explain what had happened, “he was arrested immediately in front of the others.”
The presidency later issued a brief statement announcing her death. Her funeral was attended only by a handful of officials. Then president Al-Assad did not attend.
