Iraqi security forces are conducting an operation to pursue the perpetrators of a strike on the military airfield in Kharab al-Jir, which is used by US forces stationed at bases in Syria.
"Security forces launched a large-scale operation to capture criminal elements responsible for hitting a military base deep inside Syrian territory where international coalition forces are based," the security forces said in a statement issued by the INA news agency. The document also claimed that the launcher used to fire on the airfield in Syria was found and destroyed by Iraqi security forces.
On Sunday evening, Shafaq News portal informed that the US Air Force planes destroyed the rocket launcher that was used to bombard the Kharab al-Jir airfield. The airstrike targeted the Hamad Agha neighborhood northwest of the city of Mosul (400 kilometers from Baghdad), from where the rocket salvo was fired. Earlier, armed Shiite militias belonging to the "Islamic Resistance of Iraq" movement claimed responsibility for the shelling of the airfield, where several strong explosions were heard. According to Al Mayadeen TV, the military facility was also attacked by a kamikaze drone.
The Shiite militias' forays against US bases in Syria began last October after Israeli troops invaded the Gaza Strip. US military facilities in Syria have been attacked 99 times by Iranian-backed militias fighting on the side of the Syrian army against terrorists from the Islamic State group (IS, banned in Russia).
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: reloaderaddict/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS