Two days before Pope Francis’ historic visit to Iraq, a dozen rockets hit the Ain Al-Assad air base on Wednesday March 3 in the Al-Anbar desert in the west of the country.
Several of them fell inside the area where American soldiers and drones of the international anti-jihadist coalition are stationed, Iraqi and Western security sources said. A civilian subcontractor, whose nationality was not immediately known, died of a heart attack as a result of the attack, these sources said.
The Iraqi military command reported that the rockets were of the Grad type, more precisely of the Arash type, detailed Western security sources, Iranian made, larger than the rockets used until recently. “Iraqi security forces are investigating”US coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto wrote on Twitter as Washington regularly points to pro-Iran armed factions for these attacks, which have multiplied in recent weeks.
Series of attacks on American bases
This new attack follows others carried out with the same modus operandi over the past two weeks. It reminds us to what extent the first visit of a sovereign pontiff to Iraq is a logistical headache. In mid-February, a rocket attack against American-commanded forces in northern Iraq resulted in the death of a civilian employee of the base and injured an American serviceman. Ten days later, US President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes in eastern Syria against facilities owned, according to the Pentagon, by Iranian-backed militias in response to rocket attacks against American interests in Iraq.
Sworn enemies, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States both have a presence or allies in Iraq. The United States, at the head of the coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) organization, deploys some 2,500 soldiers there and Iran has, among others, the support of Hachd Al-Chaabi, a coalition of paramilitaries integrated into the Iraqi state and composed mainly of factions financed and armed by Tehran.
The Pope does not change his program
“I will go to Iraq for a pilgrimage”, despite everything, declared Pope Francis after his traditional Wednesday audience, stressing that he wished “To meet a people who have suffered so much, to meet this martyred Church”. The Pope is expected in Baghdad on Friday and in Erbil on Sunday, where he is due to celebrate mass in a stadium which is expected to be filled with the faithful. He has no planned stopover in the desert west of the country, but will pass through Mosul, a former jihadist stronghold in the north where many factions are now deployed, in particular that of Hachd Al-Chaabi.
Due to the precarious security stability and the Covid-19 pandemic, the Argentine sovereign pontiff will be deprived of the crowds he loves. In addition, to avoid the worst, national confinement will be decreed during the entire papal visit, from Friday to Monday.