CENTCOM chief visits US troops in Iraq, Syria as Iran-backed attacks surge
The US military general in charge of American troops in the Middle East traveled to Iraq and Syria this week, where he visited bases that Iran-backed militias have attacked almost 100 times since October 17.
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla went to Bagdad where he met with the Iraqi PM and top Iraqi military officials to discuss the current regional and local security concerns.
Gen. Kurilla’s talks had a particular emphasis on the attacks against US forces, CENTCOM said in a post on X.
He traveled also went to Al-Asad Airbase and Erbil Airfield where he visited with Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) leaders and Service Members to receive an operational update and assess the current security situation.
In Syria, the top US military general went to several bases to meet with partners in the D-ISIS mission to gain an overall assessment of the progress on the defeat ISIS mission and the US force protection posture.
“These visits provide valuable insights you cannot get without traveling to the region and seeing it first-hand. I came away with a great sense of pride in the professionalism, dedication, and competence of our incredible Service Members deployed in harm’s way,” Gen. Kurilla said.
Gen. Kurilla also visited Egypt and Jordan this week, which he said provided “a deeper understanding of the security concerns of two key partners and allowed me to see the region through our partners’ eyes.”
He also went onboard the USS CARNEY, which is a US warship that has shot down ballistic missiles and drones launched by Yemen’s Houthis multiple times over the last few weeks.
US troops have been targeted at least 97 times in Iraq and Syria since October 17, a US defense official told Al Arabiya English Thursday, including five attacks this week alone.
From October 17 to December 13, there were 45 attacks in Iraq and an additional 52 in Syria, involving a combination of one-way attack drones, rockets, and close-range ballistic missiles, according to the official.
The majority of the attacks were “successfully disrupted by our military,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “Most failed to reach their targets, thanks to our robust defenses.”
A drone and rockets targeted two military bases in Iraq and Syria on Monday housing coalition forces, a US military official previously said.
Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose formation of armed groups affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi coalition of former paramilitaries that are now integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces.
Iran and the militant groups it backs in the Middle East have consistently opposed the presence of US forces in the region. But there has been a rise in attacks on US troops since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7.
The Biden administration rejects the assertion that the surge in attacks is linked to the war in Gaza. US troops in the region were attacked 78 times by pro-Iran forces between January 2021 and March 2023, according to the top US military general for the Middle East, in sharp contrast to the nearly 100 attacks recorded in the last two months alone.
The US leads the international coalition battling extremists in Iraq and neighboring Syria, and its forces have come under repeated attack in recent weeks.
There are roughly 2,500 US troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria as part of international efforts to prevent a resurgence of ISIS.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has accused the Hezbollah Brigades and another pro-Iran group, Harakat al-Nujaba, of being behind most of the attacks on coalition personnel.
