US forces shoot down armed drone near Embassy in Baghdad

The United States armed forces shot down an explosive-laden drone hovering over the US embassy in Baghdad late Monday night , July 5, Iraqi sources told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity. The military’s C-RAM air defense system was activated that fired rockets, and intercepted the tactical unmanned armed drone, although no casualties or damage was reported. Separately, as many as three rockets targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Al Anbar governate of western Iraq, which houses the US and coalition troops, a coalition spokesman informed.

The military base is a frequent target of the Iran-backed Shiite militias, that operate both in Iraq and Syria. The Iranian-backed and funded terror group has been responsible for the majority of the attacks carried out against the US facilities and military installations in Iraq. 

US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for the US-led international military coalition took to his official Twitter handle and wrote that the rockets were launched at approximately 2:45 PM local time on a US Army base located approximately 180 km (112 miles) northwest of Baghdad.  All three rockets landed on the base perimeter. “There are no injuries and damage is being assessed,” he said.

[Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province, Iraq. Credit: AP]

Separately, the US Army Colonel added that the Salafi jihadist terror outfit the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Daesh had been blowing up the power transmission towers and that the security forces deployed on an operation were safeguarding the electric towers and keeping track of the terrorist cell. The attacks did not result in any casualties; there have been no initial reports of damage. Iraq's Security Media Cell, however, stated that the security forces have opened an investigation into the attacks, adding that an abandoned truck carrying the rocket launcher was immediately seized. 

Drone, rocket attacks increased since Qasem Soleimani's assassination

The Ain al-Asad airbase which hosts US-led coalition personnel and Iraqi army troops was also attacked by a rocket on June 20, as well as in the month of May. The targetted drone and rocket attacks on the US military in Iraq have increased since the former US President Donald Trump’s directed assassination of top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020.

In the month of June, the chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, hurled an open warning on state TV saying that the Islamic republic has developed unmanned explosive-laden aerial drones with a range of 7,000 km (4,375 miles). Salami’s remarks come just two months after the Iran-backed Iraqi militias carried out a separate drone attack at an alleged secret CIA hangar in the Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital city Erbil’s airport alarming the United States.