Iranian-backed groups launch rockets at US base in Syria

At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar toward a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday, two Iraqi security sources and a U.S. official reported.

The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February, when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops.

End of 3 months of pause

It comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States, where he met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

'Fabricated news', says Hezbollah

Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah has denied issuing a statement saying it had resumed attacks on US forces, a statement from the group issued on the Telegram messaging app said.

The denial came hours after a post circulated on groups thought to be affiliated with the Iran-backed armed faction that declared a resumption of the attacks some three months after they were suspended.

Kataib Hezbollah described that as "fabricated news".

U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria carried out a counter-strike

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said more than five rockets were fired from Iraq toward troops at a coalition base in Rumalyn, Syria, but no U.S. personnel were injured.

The official referred to it as a "failed rocket attack," but it was not immediately clear if the rockets had failed to hit the base or had been destroyed before they reached it. It was also not clear if the base was the target itself.

Following that, the official said, an aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria carried out a strike against the launcher. Two security sources and a senior army officer in Iraq said a small truck with a rocket launcher fixed on the back had been parked in Zummar, a town on the border with Syria.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information, said in a statement that Iraqi forces had launched "a wide-ranging search and inspection operation" targeting the perpetrators near the Syrian border, pledging to bring them to justice.

The attacks came after a huge blast at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of an Iraqi security force that includes Iran-backed groups. The force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.

Source: Newsroom