U.S. personnel injured in suspected rocket attack on Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, U.S. officials say
Several U.S. personnel appear to have been injured in a suspected rocket attack against U.S. and Coalition forces at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on Monday, a Pentagon spokesperson said, adding that officials at the base are conducting a post-attack damage assessment.
U.S. military officials told CBS News that there were no known fatalities, and that the service members' injuries were not reported to be critical.
U.S. officials say the latest casualty count is 7 injured, all in stable condition. Most of the injuries were described as traumatic brain injury, but some had cuts from shrapnel.
It appeared that two Katyusha rockets were fired from a modified box truck toward Al Asad, the officials said.
A White House official said President Biden has been briefed on the attack.
"The briefing focused on the threats posed by Iran and its proxies to Israel and to U.S. servicemembers in the region," the White House said in a statement. "The President and Vice President were briefed on the attack at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. They discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing."
The attack came amid mounting concerns of a larger regional war in the Middle East after last week's killings of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas' top political leader in Iran. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said the region was in a "critical moment," and he urged all parties in the Middle East to work to ease tensions.
Al Asad has been a target of strikes before, most notably in early 2020, when Iran launched a missile attack against the base in retaliation for the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. More than 100 American troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries in the aftermath of the Iranian missile attack.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.