Iran’s proxy terrorists have increasingly targeted Mideast bases that include American military forces, raising the specter of the US being dragged into an armed conflict.
US and allied military personel have thwarted many of the attacks, although others have caused some damage and minor injuries.
Biden administration officials have issued stern warnings against Iran and the terror groups it supports over the continued provocations, with a top aide vowing Monday, “We will not hesitate to protect our forces.
“We don’t necessarily see that Iran has explicitly ordered them to take these kinds of attacks,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters Monday.
“We haven’t seen a direct order, for example, from the Supreme Leader saying: ‘Go out and do this,’ ” he said before adding, “No one wants to see a wider regional conflict, but we will not hesitate to protect our forces.”
John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, added, “We know Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability here.
“But we’re not going to allow them to do that. We’re also not going to allow any threat to our interests in the region to go unchallenged.
“We know Iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases actively facilitating these attacks,” he said.
Over the past week alone, there have been about a half dozen publicly confirmed skirmishes between Iranian proxies and US forces.
The spike in attacks against American personel in the Middle East appears to have been fueled by the war raging in Israel in response to Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 bloody attack on the Jewish state.
On Monday, the Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq took credit for a would-be attack involving two drones against the al-Tanf garrison in a region of Syria that has frequently been used by terrorists to traffic weapons.
The drones were intercepted by forces on the US base, and no one was injured, according to Ryder.
The US is believed to currently have around 900 troops station in Syria. Al-Tanf is fixated near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan.
On Sunday, Katyusha rockets impacted the Ain al-Asad air base where US and international forces are stationed, Reuters reported.
A day before, al-Asad air base’s defense systems downed two drones that flew near the base, according to Reuters.
The US has at least 2,500 personal station in Iraq.
The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer vessel operating near the northern part of the Red Sea, downed multiple missiles believed to have been launched by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Officials said they weren’t sure about the intended target of the attack, but the military decided to shoot down the rockets after determining they posed a potential threat.
The incident stretched nearly nine hours and involved four cruise missiles and 15 drones, CNN reported.
On Thursday, a pair of drones believed to have come from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the al-Tanf garrison.
In that incident, one of the drones was destroyed, and another one cause minor injuries on the base, according to US officials.
A separate spate of drone attacks also took place in eastern Syria near the Deir al-Zor region and targeted the Conoco gas field, according to Syrian opposition activists.
American troops are housed in that oil facility.
On Oct. 18, US Central Command confirmed that within 24 hours, US forces staved off three drone attacks in Iraq.
The first involved a pair of drones that zeroed in on the al-Asad base. One of those drones was intercepted, while another exploded, leading to some minor injuries, Reuters reported.
Medical personel also evaluated some service members for possible traumatic brain injury.
One contractor suffered a cardiac event while scrambling to take shelter, then later died as a result.
Then in northern Iraq, a drone attacked al-Harir air base, but the device eventually dropped into a desert area not far from the base.
President Biden has sought to deter Iran from exploiting the conflict in Israel.
“Iran is supporting Russia in Ukraine, and it’s supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region,’ Biden declared during his prime time address Thursday. ‘We’ll continue to hold them accountable, I might add.”
Meanwhile, Iraq’s prime minister has ordered a pursuit of the culprits behind the attacks on US personnel.
“Attacks that target Iraqi bases that houses advisers from the international coalition in Iraq are unacceptable. They are here based on the invitation of the government,” a spokesman said.
US intelligence officials believe there are “red lights flashing everywhere” that Iranian-backed militias in the region are planning to continue ratcheting up their offense against American Mideast forces, CNN reported.
Some politicians such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have argued that the US should threaten war with Iran if Tehran escalates the conflict in Israel further.