Iran-Backed Drones Spark Massive Fire At US Base In Iraq

New Delhi: A drone attack has hit a US military base in Iraq that houses oil depos and weapons. Huge fire has erupted in the stored oil reserves. U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have faced a barrage of drone and rocket attacks from Iran-backed militias in the past three weeks, as tensions escalate over the U.S. support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza, Pentagon data and U.S. officials said.

The attacks, which have numbered at least 40, have only resulted in minor injuries to some U.S. troops, as most of the projectiles and unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down by U.S. air defenses in the two countries, where about 3,400 U.S. soldiers are stationed.

However, David Schenker, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state and a think-tank expert, warned that the situation could spiral out of control, as neither Iran and its proxies nor the U.S. seem to want to back down. He said that a major attack that kills many Americans and triggers a U.S. retaliation is “a very realistic concern.”

He said that the Iraqi and Syrian militias are trying to pressure the U.S. troops without provoking a full-scale war. “But they have a lot more capabilities that they can use,” he said.

It is unclear how President Joe Biden would react to a large-scale attack that claims American lives. Facing low approval ratings ahead of next year’s presidential election, Biden has so far limited the U.S. involvement in the conflict to providing military aid to Israel.

The conflict erupted when Hamas - the militant group that controls Gaza and receives funding from Iran - launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 240 hostages. Since then, Israel has pounded the coastal enclave with airstrikes, killing more than 10,000 people, many of them children.

Iran denies any role in Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel, but has praised the attack.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to Iraq - where most of the attacks on U.S. forces have occurred - to urge Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to rein in the militias operating there and prevent any further escalation.

But Sudani has had little success in convincing the militia groups to stop their attacks or persuading their patrons in Iran to restrain them, according to five senior lawmakers in Sudani’s ruling coalition, a security adviser to the prime minister and a militia leader.

The prime minister and about 10 senior members of his government met with the leaders of about a dozen militia groups in Baghdad on Oct. 23 to ask them to cease their attacks on U.S. forces, said the seven people, who were either present or informed about the meeting.

The request was largely ignored, though, as most of the leaders vowed to continue their attacks until Israel lifted its blockade and bombardment of Gaza, they said.

“No one - not the prime minister or anyone else - can stop us from fulfilling our religious duty,” said Ali Turki, a Shi’ite lawmaker and a commander of the powerful Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia.

Arif al-Hamami, another Shi’ite lawmaker, said that the chances for diplomacy were slim: “I don’t think that the prime minister has the power to stop the attacks as long as Israel is committing crimes in Gaza with American help.” The Iraqi and Iranian governments did not respond to requests for comment on the militia attacks and the risk of escalation.