The United States calls on Iraq to protect American forces after new attacks

The US Army called on the Iraqi government to take steps to protect US forces in both Iraq and Syria after thwarting two attacks launched by armed factions on military bases on Monday.

During his statements from the US Department of Defense (Pentagon), Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder did not speculate about the reason behind the renewed attacks, but he called on Baghdad to take action.

He said, "These attacks put coalition and Iraqi soldiers at risk. We call on the government of Iraq to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of American forces in Iraq and Syria from attacks by these groups."

He added, "If these attacks continue, we will not hesitate to defend our forces as we did in the past."

The United States has about 2,500 military personnel in Iraq and 900 in eastern Syria.

The drone and missile attack was the first of its kind since the almost daily attacks stopped in  February, which culminated in the killing of 3 American soldiers at a military site in Jordan in January 2024.

It is worth noting that the Iraqi "Hezbollah Brigades" announced on Monday that the armed factions would resume attacks on American forces due to the lack of progress on withdrawing these forces during the Iraqi Prime Minister's visit to Washington.

This comes at a time when the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" announced targeting Israel with drones, as it said in the past days that it had struck two vital targets in Eilat  and the Golan .