Erbil air base housing US troops catches fire following drone attack
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The storage facility of Erbil province’s Harir air base housing US troops caught fire late Thursday after two suicide drones hit the base, according to local authorities and a pro-Iran militia group which claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to footage submitted to Rudaw by locals, a fire broke out at the Harir air base which houses the US-led global coalition forces.
The fire broke out at the air base’s fuel storage facility, a Harir civil defense department official told Rudaw, adding that “We are ready to act but we have yet to be authorised to go [to the air base] to control the fire.”
The fire is growing, according to the official.
Kurdistan Region's counterterrorism unit said in a statement that the attack was carried out with a suicide drone and caused a fire.
However, it said the coalition forces have abandoned the base since October 20.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a pro-Iran militia group, claimed responsibility for the attack, stating it was carried out with drone suicide drones.
The group has claimed responsibility for dozens of drone and rocket attacks against US troops in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and Syria since last month, attributing them to Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told journalists that there had been a total of 38 attacks on US troops since October 17-20 in Iraq and 18 in Syria.
According to the Pentagon spokesman, a total of 45 US personnel were injured in the attacks, all of them prior to the US retaliatory strikes on facilities used by groups affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria on October 26.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared devoid of territorial control in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
The attack took place hours after Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani arrived in Erbil and met with Kurdish officials.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday said these attacks are “extremely dangerous” for Iraq and the Region.
“Kurdistan Regional Government calls on Iraq’s prime minister [Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani], as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, to prevent outlaw forces from creating issues for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. We have this expectation from Iraq’s prime minister,” he added.
He warned that Iraq should not be involved in the regional tensions.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Sudani to pursue the attackers of US bases and troops in Iraq.
Updated at 9:14 pm