April 22, 2024 12:30 AM EDT
A military base in Syria belonging to a U.S.-led coalition combating militants in the area came under rocket-fire late on Sunday, the government-affiliated Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement.
At least one rocket landed at the base, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in an interview with Al-Arabiya. The attack was the third to target the same site within 24 hours, Abdulrahman added.
It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Iraqi forces are conducting a wide-ranging search and inspection operation west of Nineveh near the Syrian border to try to capture the perpetrators, according to a statement from the Iraqi Security Media Cell posted on X.
خلية الإعلام الأمني
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شرعت قطعاتنا الأمنية ضمن قاطع عمليات غرب نينوى قرب الحدود العراقية السورية، بعملية بحث وتفتيش واسعة عن عناصر خارجة عن القانون استهدفت بالساعة ( 2150) من اليوم الأحد، قاعدة للتحالف الدولي بعدد من الصواريخ في عمق الأراضي السورية.
اذ عثرت قواتنا…
— خلية الإعلام الأمني🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) April 21, 2024
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq didn’t explicitly claim responsibility for the strike, but in a statement on Telegram the militant group said it decided to resume military operations against American troops after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani visited the U.S. this month. The group gave Al-Sudani three months to negotiate the departure of U.S. forces in Iraq.
“What happened a short while ago is the beginning that must be escalated,” according to the group’s statement.
The attack followed an explosion on a base in Iraq this weekend controlled by the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. said it wasn’t behind that incident.