SULAIMANI (ESTA) — U.S.-led Coalition forces have raised the threat level for American service members in Iraq, Fox News reported on Friday (February 26), after the United States targeted sites belonging to Iranian-aligned militia in Syria.
The United States carried out air strikes authorized by U.S. President Joe Biden against facilities belonging to Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria on Thursday, in response to rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
The air strikes, early on Friday local time, targeted militia sites on the Syrian side of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, where groups backed by Iran control an important crossing for weapons, personnel and goods.
“Protection of coalition troops is the #1 priority, so taking force protection levels higher is wise and prudent,” Fox News quoted a source as saying.
Another person told Fox News that Sallyport Global, a company that fulfills U.S. government contracts, had put American contractors on high alert at Balad Air Base.
The news outlet said only mission-essential movement will be allowed on base from 6:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time, and that protective gear would also be required for anyone outside of hardened buildings.
Iraq’s Balad Air Base housing U.S.-led Coalition personnel was hit by several rockets on Feb. 10 and one person said to be an Iraqi was wounded.
Western officials and some Iraqi officials accuse Iranian-backed groups of involvement in deadly rocket attacks on U.S. sites and personnel in Iraq over the last month.
On February 15, a non-American contractor was killed at a U.S. military base at Erbil International Airport in the Kurdistan Region, in the days that followed, rockets were fired at a base hosting U.S. forces, and near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Biden’s decision to strike only in Syria and not in Iraq gives the Iraqi government breathing room as it investigates the Erbil attack, which also wounded Americans.
