Continuing the tit-for-tat violence between US-led foreign forces in Iraq and certain Iraqi militias, a pair of rockets hit the Besmaya base south of Baghdad overnight Monday. The base houses US and NATO troops, and is the third such base to be hit in the past week.
Details are still emerging, but this was much fewer rockets than previous strikes, and so far there has been no word of any casualties in the incident. The US has threatened retaliation for further attacks, but no such strikes were yet reported.
Both sides have been hitting one another recently and talking up escalation. That this was a much smaller, casualty-free attack may suggest that the militias are trying to save face but not escalate the matter any further.
This would depend heavily on the US not looking to escalate further either, however, and all indications out of the administration are that they consider the Iraqi militias to be “Iranian proxies,” and are very keen to keep picking fights with them.
Rockets Hit Iraq Base Housing US Troops South of Baghdad
No casualties reported in latest strike against coalition forces
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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