Iraqi military bases targeted in overnight strikes

As Israel and Iran exchanged final volleys of fire in the early hours of June 24 after US President Donald Trump brokered a still-uncertain ceasefire, unknown actors, strongly thought to be Iran-backed Shiite militias, launched attacks on US and Iraqi bases throughout Iraq.

Sabah al Numan, the military spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister, acknowledged the attacks in a statement released on the prime minister’s official X account. “Several small suicide drones targeted multiple Iraqi military sites and bases,” Numan said. “The assault severely damaged radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar Province. No human casualties were reported.”

According to Iraqi military sources speaking to Asharq al Awsat, the attack on Camp Taji destroyed a TPS77 long-range air radar. At the Imam Ali Base, the drones struck an AN/TPQ36 mobile, short-range radar.

“Iraqi forces successfully repelled and thwarted all other attempted attacks on four additional sites across various locations, intercepting the drones and downing them before they could reach their intended targets,” Numan’s statement continued.

“All of the targeted locations are exclusively military facilities under the control of the Iraqi security forces, managed and operated by officers and personnel from our heroic security formations,” the statement said. While Iraqi forces control these bases, US troops and civilian contractors, the likely target of the attacks, are stationed at some of the facilities.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani established a committee to investigate the attacks.

At least four bases were targeted

Attacks reportedly occurred at Camp Taji, Camp Victory near Baghdad International Airport, Imam Ali Airbase, and Balad Air Base. US personnel are known to have operated from these bases, but they may have evacuated as the Trump administration prepared to strike Iran’s nuclear program. Iran-backed Iraqi militias have a long history of targeting US troops during times of conflict between Iran and the US and Israel.

Camp Taji is located approximately 20 miles north of Baghdad. The base housed roughly 2,000 Coalition members during the height of the fight against the Islamic State but was transferred to Iraqi control in August 2020. Imam Ali is a military airbase and civilian airport in southern Iraq. While no US soldiers are thought to be stationed at either facility, US civilian contractors are believed to operate from both locations to aid in maintaining Iraqi military weapons systems.

Besides the attacks at Camp Taji and Imam Ali Air Base, Camp Victory was also targeted, Kurdistan24 reported. The New Arab reported that the attacks on Camp Victory and other bases in Iraq were part of a broader attack against US troops in the region by Iran and not conducted by armed Iraqi factions aligned with Tehran. Camp Victory served as a central command hub for US and Coalition forces, including the headquarters of Multi-National Force-Iraq, during the Iraq War. The US handed control of Camp Victory over to Iraqi authorities on December 1, 2011. US soldiers and civilian contractors are also believed to be stationed at Baghdad International Airport, the lifeline for US Embassy personnel in the Iraqi capital.

There are also reports that Balad Air Base, located north of Baghdad, came under attack. Few details have been published about the alleged incident. However, Balad Air Base has a history of coming under fire from Iraqi militias. On January 12, 2020, militia groups wounded four Iraqi troops at the base in a rocket attack. A similar incident occurred on February 20, 2021, when at least four rockets struck the Balad, injuring one person. US civilian contractors are also thought to be stationed there.

Balad Air Base was initially constructed by Saddam Hussein’s regime as a major air force facility hosting MiG fighter aircraft. After US forces seized the air base in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, it was transformed into a massive logistical and operational hub. The US transferred ownership of Balad Air Base to Iraqi authorities on November 8, 2011.

Iraqi militias are the prime suspects in recent attacks

Iran-backed Iraqi and Syrian militias operating under the aegis of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq (IRI) have launched more than 180 attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan since Hamas and its allies attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. There have previously also been numerous attacks on US forces in the region before 2023. The IRI, which does the bidding of the Iranian regime, has deployed drones, rockets, missiles, and mortars against US forces in the region as part of an effort to eject the US from Iraq and Syria. Additionally, the group has claimed to have launched scores of attacks against Israel, though most of them were ineffective.

Iran-supported Iraqi militias include several battle-hardened groups that have fought against the US military and the Islamic State over the past two decades. Some of the groups are listed by the US as terrorist organizations, and collectively, they are responsible for the murder of at least 600 American soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2011.

Six of the militias in the IRI—Asaib Ahl al Haq, Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al Awfiya, and Kataib Imam Ali—have been listed by the United States as terrorist entities and are directly supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). Despite the terror designations, these militias have been integrated into Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an official, independent military arm of the Iraqi government that nominally reports to the prime minister and is modeled after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Under the Biden administration, the US ignored Iraqi militia attacks on US forces as long as US troops were not killed, as the administration feared being pulled into a wider regional war with Iran and its proxies. This calculus changed after the IRI killed three US service members and injured 25 in a coordinated drone strike on a base in northeast Jordan on January 28, 2024. After that attack, the Biden administration heavily targeted the militias in Iraq and Syria, which ultimately led to an unspoken truce.

The Trump administration has taken a similar stance to its predecessor thus far. Before last night, at least five militia attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria were reported, but US forces did not retaliate.

Bridget Toomey is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies focusing on Iranian proxies, specifically Iraqi militias and the Houthis. Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East. Bill Roggio is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.