Four rockets land inside Baghdad airport; Iran, proxy forces blamed

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Four rockets landed inside the Baghdad international airport Sunday night, U.S. military officials have told Fox News, blaming Iran and its proxy forces for the attack.

The rockets hit a building called the Diplomatic Support Center, located on the opposite side of the airport from the civilian runway and passenger terminal where U.S. military personnel are present. The rockets landed between 100 and 400 yards away from American troops and civilians, one official said

Five Iraq soldiers were wounded by shrapnel, the officials said. It’s not clear how severe the injuries were.

The latest rocket attack, the ninth since late October, comes as Defense Secretary Mark Esper weighs a decision to add reinforcements to the Middle East to deter Iran, on top of the 14,000 added to the region since May—half aboard warships.

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Security forces close the Ahrar Bridge during ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 9. (AP)

In two separate interviews with Bret Baier and Chris Wallace at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Esper said he was not considering adding 14,000 or 7,000 more troops “right now,” but refused to rule out smaller numbers in the future.

There are currently more than 60,000 U.S. troops deployed throughout the Middle East right now, officials say.

No group has publicly claimed responsibility for this latest attack on the Baghdad airport.

There have been 9 rocket attacks on or in the vicinity of Iraqi facilities that host U.S. troops in the last six weeks, officials say.

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A Dec. 3 attack included 122 mm rockets, larger warheads than used in previous attacks. The 122 mm rockets that landed inside Al Asad Air Base —where Vice President Mike Pence visited days before Thanksgiving—are more dangerous and can be fired from a greater range than previous 107 mm rocket attacks elsewhere in Iraq.

The U.S. military blame Iranian-backed militia groups for the attacks using the larger 122 mm rockets, officials tell Fox News.

The attacks against Iraqi bases where some of the 5,000 U.S. troops are deployed come amid widespread protests in Iraq and led to the recent resignation of the country’s prime minister. Some 400 Iraqi protesters have been killed since early October. Some U.S. officials see Iran playing a role in the killings in addition to Iraqi security forces.

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In neighboring Iran, the State Department says over 1,000 protesters have been killed since the middle of last month after Tehran announced a new tax on gasoline leading to widespread protests in over 100 Iranian cities. The sweeping unrest led authorities to shut down the internet for days in an attempt to prevent videos and photos of the massacres from getting out.