In retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general at the Baghdad Airport last week, Iran has launched over a dozen ballistic missiles at an airbase in northern Iraq, which houses U.S. soldiers.
National Public Radio reported on Tuesday evening that the U.S. Defense Department (DOD) made a formal announcement about Iran’s retaliatory strike. Around 5:30 p.m. EST, Iranian rockets rained down on the Ain al-Assad Airbase in Iraq’s northern city of Irbil. Iran’s missile attack targeted U.S. military personnel on at least two Iraqi locations, the DOD said.
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Government officials in Tehran have vowed to enact revenge against the U.S. for assassinating General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Quds Force, an elite division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard troops. General Soleimani was killed by a U.S. airstrike at Iraq’s international airport in its capital of Baghdad on January 3.
“We are working on initial battle damage assessments [of the Iranian rocket attack on Al-Assad Airbase]. In recent days and in response to Iranian threats and actions, the Department of Defense has taken all appropriate measures to safeguard our personnel and partners,” reads a statement issued by Jonathan Hoffman, a Pentagon spokesperson.
Source: Iranian Military Retaliates With Missile Attacks on U.S. Airbase in Iraq
