On October 19, 2023, Telegram channels linked to Iran-backed militias shared a statement issued by the “Islamic Resistance In Iraq,” an Iran-backed joint operations room consisting of Iraqi militias. The statement claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Ein Al-Assad base which houses U.S. forces in Iraq. The attack comes as part of the militias’ support for the October 7 attack by Gaza-based Hamas on Israel.[1]
The statement read: “The mujahedeen in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted this evening the American occupation in west Iraq, ‘Ain Al-Assad,’ with a barrage of missiles which hit their target directly and accurately.”
Earlier on October 19, 2023, the joint operations room of the Islamic resistance in Iraq, which was established on the previous day “in support of [Operation] Al-Aqsa Flood,” claimed that its fighters carried out two attacks against U.S. bases in Syria. The first attack was a drone strike against Al-Tanf Airbase in Eastern Syria, and the second was a rocket attack against the Kuniko oilfield in Syria’s Deir Al-Zour Region.
[1] Telegram, October 19, 2023.