US coalition in Iraq halts second drone attack in two days
Coalition forces in Syria also hit back in response to rocket fire near al-Omar oilfield.
US air defense systems shot down two unmanned drones carrying explosives near Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province early on Tuesday, the US-led coalition said.
No one was hurt in the attempted attack, the second of its kind in two days. Two other suicide drones were shot down yesterday by the coalition’s C-RAM air defenses near Baghdad International Airport, which houses an Iraqi military facility used by the international coalition.
Yesterday’s attack came on the second anniversary of the US killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a Baghdad drone strike, a move for which Iran’s government and the militias it supports in Iraq vowed revenge.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech in Tehran Monday that former US President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must be prosecuted for the assassination and that Iran will take revenge if they are not.
