Official logo of the the al-Aqsa Flood Support Operations Room.
Iraqi armed factions backed by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the formation of a joint operations room in support of Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip on October 18, claiming responsibility for two drone attacks that targeted bases hosting United States troops in western and northern Iraq earlier in the day.
In a brief statement, the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq said that its factions formed the al-Aqsa Flood Support Operations Room to fulfill their religious duty and obligation.
Al-Aqsa Flood is the codenamed for the surprise attack on Israel launched by the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions from Gaza on October 7. Over 1,400 Israelis were killed in the attack. Israel has been bombarding the Strip since then and is preparing to launch a ground invasion. More than 3,400 Palestinians have been killed, so far.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced in a later statement that the first actions of the al-Aqsa Flood Support Operations Room included two attacks with drones on Ayn al-Assad Air Base in the western province of al-Anbar and al-Harir Air Base in the northern Kurdistan Region. U.S. troops are known to be deployed in both bases.
Confirming that it was behind the attacks, the resistance released footage showing the launch of what appears to be two Iranian-made Shahed-101 suicide drones at Ayn al-Assad.
Meanwhile, al-Harir was targeted with a single suicide drone, a copy of the Iranian-made Ababil-2, according to a photo from the scene of the attack.
Click to see full-size image.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that its forces intercepted two drones, destroying one and damaging the other, over Ayn al-Assad. The attack resulted in minor injuries to American forces, the command acknowledged.
A third drone was intercepted over al-Harir, the command said, adding that the attack didn’t result in any casualties or material losses.
“In this moment of heightened alert, we are vigilantly monitoring the situation in Iraq and the region,” CENTCOM’s statement about the attack said.
The decision to bring the war to U.S. forces in Iraq was likely directly motivated by the al-Ahli Arab Hospital massacre in Gaza, which saw nearly 500 civilians being killed in an Israeli strike, according to Palestinian health officials.
The U.S. unconditional political and military support for Israel was not bent by the horrific massacre. In fact, President Joe Bide held Palestinian fighters responsible for the deadly hospital explosion during his wartime visit to Israel on October 18, adopting the Israeli claim that it was the result of a rocket misfire.
The attacks on Ayn al-Assad and al-Harir will not likely be the last operations against U.S. troops in Iraq. A spokesman for Kata’ib Hezbollah, one of the largest factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, told Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV that operations will “escalate” in coming days.
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