Iraq: No casualties in Iran missile strike

By Aref Yusuf

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraqi authorities on Wednesday reported that there had been no casualties following Iran's missile strike targeting two U.S. military bases in Iraq.

Iraq's state-run Security Media Network said in a written statement that 22 missiles had fallen on Iraqi territory.

"Seventeen of these rockets hit Ain Al-Assad airbase […] and five missiles fell on Erbil city," the network said.

The Interior Ministry of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq confirmed no casualties in the attack.

Earlier Wednesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq.

The missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases where U.S. military and coalition personnel are stationed in response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

Last Friday, Soleimani, the head of the IRGC's elite Quds Force, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.

His death marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which have often been at a fever pitch since President Donald Trump chose in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw Washington from a 2015 nuclear pact world powers struck with Tehran.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who bestowed the country's highest honor on Soleimani last year, vowed "severe retaliation" in response to his killing.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat