US troops targeted in drone strikes ‘by militias linked to Iran’

American troops across the Middle East are facing a renewed threat of attack as allies of Iran and Hamas retaliate for Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

Demonstrators gather with Iranian and Palestinian flags and the yellow flags of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah during a protest in Tehranon Friday amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. Picture: AFP

American troops across the Middle East are facing a renewed threat of attack as allies of Iran and Hamas retaliate for Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

US central command said it had intercepted at least two drones targeted at al-Asad air base in western Iraq on Wednesday, where American and some British troops have been based since they were sent to the country to help fight Islamic State in 2015.

More drones and rockets were fired at the base on Thursday, with two more rockets fired at the US military base near Baghdad airport.

There was also a drone attack on al-Tanf base in southern Syria, which is controlled by the US and remnants of Syrian rebel groups. In potentially the most serious incident, a US warship shot down long-range missiles and drones apparently fired at Israel from Yemen.

There were no initial claims of responsibility for any of the attacks, but there are several anti-American Shia militias allied to Iran in Iraq, while the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen is also funded and armed by Tehran. All these groups have ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been firing shells and rockets into northern Israel sporadically since the start of the crisis.

Iran has warned that any Israeli invasion of Gaza will have repercussions across the region. Most attention has focused on Lebanon, where Hezbollah has a missile arsenal which is 150,000 strong by its own account. It has fought previous wars directly with Israel, most recently in 2006.

Its leadership has issued a number of statements saying it will not bow to warnings by President Biden that the group should stay out of the war over Gaza.

However, Iran’s development of a network of loyal militias across the region has given it the option of targeting American interests instead.

The US and other members of the western anti-Isis coalition have maintained a 2500-strong presence in Iraq, with the permission of the government, to train the regular Iraqi forces.

However, the political wings of the militia movement are also represented in the power-sharing government, and are keen to maintain pressure on the US.

The leader of one militia, the Sayyid Al-Shuhada brigade – a commander with the nom de guerre Abu Ala al-Walai – posted a photograph online of himself standing on the Lebanese border with Israel. He said he was there to express support for Hamas’s war to “establish an independent Palestinian state”.

He added that victory was inevitable, and said that any attempt by the US to intervene would “turn the entire American presence in the region into legitimate targets”.

There have been claims that 500 Shia fighters from Iraq have already travelled to Lebanon in order to supplement Hezbollah forces, although it is not short of manpower itself.

However, Michael Knights, an expert on Iraq’s militias, noted in a blog for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy that the statements by al-Walai and other militia leaders were carefully modulated only to threaten to respond to a wider war, not start one. “Iran-backed militias seemingly co-ordinated their statements to downplay the likelihood of them becoming directly involved,” he said. “There is an element of theatre here.”

The attack from Yemen was thwarted by a US destroyer in the Red Sea, the USS Carney. It was not clear what their eventual target was, but the Houthis are closely entwined with Hezbollah, which has sent operatives to train their forces. Iran has provided missile technology, including designs that would potentially enable rockets to reach Israel from Yemeni territory.

Biden has already ordered two aircraft carrier groups to be on station in the eastern Mediterranean to deter Israel’s enemies in the region from escalating the conflict. The Pentagon has also put 2000 further military personnel on standby.

The Times