Rocket Hits Military Base Near Baghdad Airport

A member of the Iraqi security forces walks past a destroyed vehicle that was carrying rockets amid sacks of flour, in the district of al-Baghdadi in al-Anbar province on July 8, 2021. (AFP Photo)
A member of the Iraqi security forces walks past a destroyed vehicle that was carrying rockets amid sacks of flour, in the district of al-Baghdadi in al-Anbar province on July 8, 2021. (AFP Photo)
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Rocket Hits Military Base Near Baghdad Airport

A member of the Iraqi security forces walks past a destroyed vehicle that was carrying rockets amid sacks of flour, in the district of al-Baghdadi in al-Anbar province on July 8, 2021. (AFP Photo)
A member of the Iraqi security forces walks past a destroyed vehicle that was carrying rockets amid sacks of flour, in the district of al-Baghdadi in al-Anbar province on July 8, 2021. (AFP Photo)

A Katyusha rocket hit an Iraqi military base hosting US forces near Baghdad's international airport on Wednesday, Iraqi security and military sources said.

The sources said that nobody was hurt in the incident.

The US led-coalition in Syria struck several launch sites for short-range rockets believed to be intended for attacks on an installation used by US troops in eastern Syria, officials said Tuesday.

The strikes against the launch sites apparently were conducted by US forces, but a statement issued by the coalition did not specify who carried them out. The statement offered few details beyond saying the sites “posed an imminent threat in the vicinity of Green Village, Syria,” and were struck in self-defense.

The pre-emptive attack on the sites followed two separate incidents this week in Iraq in which explosives-laden drones were shot down before they could attack an Iraqi military base housing US troops in western Iraq and a facility housing US advisers at Baghdad airport.



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.