US Concerned by Spate of Attacks on its Bases in Iraq

FILE PHOTO: A man glances at a rocket that flew away from an Iraqi militia group's weapons depot after it caught fire, in Baghdad, Iraq, August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man glances at a rocket that flew away from an Iraqi militia group's weapons depot after it caught fire, in Baghdad, Iraq, August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo
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US Concerned by Spate of Attacks on its Bases in Iraq

FILE PHOTO: A man glances at a rocket that flew away from an Iraqi militia group's weapons depot after it caught fire, in Baghdad, Iraq, August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man glances at a rocket that flew away from an Iraqi militia group's weapons depot after it caught fire, in Baghdad, Iraq, August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily/File Photo

Washington has been concerned by a recent spate of attacks on Iraqi bases where some 5,200 US troops are deployed to help Iraqi forces ensure militants do not regroup.

The attacks, targeting either bases or the US embassy in Baghdad, have averaged more than one per week over the past six weeks.

Two rockets hit the Al-Balad air base, north of Baghdad, late Thursday, Iraqi security forces said.

It came as Washington considers deploying between 5,000 and 7,000 fresh troops to the Middle East to counter its arch-foe Iran, a US official told Agence France Presse.

Thursday's attack with Katyusha rockets did not cause any casualties or material damage but "came close," a US official said.

"There is a spike in rocket attacks," a second US official said, adding that although they had caused no US casualties and little damage, they were increasingly worrying.

Five rockets hit Al-Asad air base on December 3, just four days after Vice President Mike Pence visited troops there. 

Security sources said they believed Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful faction close to Tehran and blacklisted by Washington, was responsible.

More than a dozen rockets hit the Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq last month, one of the largest attacks in recent months to hit an area where US troops are based. 

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks and Washington has not blamed any particular faction, AFP said.

But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed similar attacks on Iran-aligned groups.

Iran holds vast sway in Iraq, especially among the more hardline elements of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a paramilitary force backed by Tehran.

Asked whether the repeated rocket attacks made the PMF a bigger threat to US troops than ISIS, the official agreed. "It is," he said. 

Multiple US diplomatic and military sources have told AFP of their growing frustration with such attacks. 

They say they are relying on their Iraqi partners to play a "de-conflicting" role between them and the PMF to prevent any clashes.

That is a complicated task, as the PMF has been ordered to integrate with the regular security forces but many of its fighters continue to operate with some independence, AFP said.

"We all recognize the danger out here. Sometimes our Iraqi partners say, well what can I do?" the official said.



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."