Iranian proxies attack US base in Iraq for the first time in months

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

An Iran-backed militant group attacked a U.S. base in Iraq Tuesday, the first such attack since at least April, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday.

Two armed air drones flew toward Al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq, Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a briefing.

American forces shot one down, and the other one hit the base, with “minimal damage,” Singh said.

Singh didn’t say which group launched the attack, except that it was likely one of multiple groups supported by Iran that have all targeted American forces since last fall.

She also did not indicate whether the U.S. would retaliate for the strike, except to say that shooting down one of the drones was itself a response.

It’s not yet clear, Singh said, whether there would be more attacks to come or if this was a one-off.

Since the war in Gaza began last year, following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, U.S. ground forces in Iraq and Syria have come under fire from Iranian-backed proxies.

From October to February, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched regular drone attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, which they said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza and were aimed at forcing U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq.

Those attacks halted after three U.S. soldiers were killed in a strike on a base in Jordan, near the Syrian border in late January, prompting U.S. retaliatory strikes in Iraq, including one in central Baghdad that killed a militia commander.

U.S. troops on the ground in those countries have faced more than 100 attacks since October.

Meanwhile, at sea, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched a near-daily barrage of missiles and drones at U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

U.S. forces have intercepted the attacks and also struck Houthi sites in Yemen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the last time Iranian proxies had attacked U.S. ground forces in the Middle East. The last attack before this week’s incident was in April.