Iran launches missiles at U.S. airbases in Iraq in retaliation for killing of commander

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday targeted U.S. bases in Iraq including al-Asad and Harir Camp to the north of Erbil with a second wave of surface-to-surface missiles, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The attacks came after Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday.

According to the report,

Iran launched a dozen of ballistic missiles.

IRGC claimed responsibility for the missile attacks in a statement, saying that they were meant to retaliate the U.S. killing of Soleimani.

The missiles were probably of Fateh 313 type and they were launched from Iran’s western Kermanshah Province, Fars News Agency reported.

Fateh 313 missiles are road-mobile single-stage solid-fueled surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 500 km.

“We warn all allied countries of the U.S. that they will be a target of military retaliation if attacks are launched from bases in their countries on Iran,” the IRGC statement said.

It urged Americans to recall all their soldiers back home to prevent more damage.

An Iraqi army official in Anbar province anonymously told Xinhua that some 20 missiles hit Al-Asad airbase in al-Baghdadi area, some 190 km northwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, which houses hundreds of U.S. troops.

Sirens were heard in the airbase, while U.S. helicopters flew over the area, the source said.

Al-Asad, previously named al-Qadisiyah, is the second largest airbase in Iraq and has the largest number of U.S. troops in Iraq, along with others from coalition members.
The Iranian missiles also targeted another base located in Harir area, east of Erbil, capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, said reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump later Tuesday appeared to downplay the Iranian missile attacks, while highlighting U.S. military strength at the same time.