Pro-Iranian group in Iraq fires rockets into northeastern Syria

A pro-Iranian Iraqi armed group launched a rocket attack on Monday against a base in northeastern Syria that was recently vacated by US-led anti-jihadist coalition forces, an Iraqi security official and a Syrian monitor say.

“An Iraqi faction fired seven Arash-4 rockets, an improved version of the Grad rocket, towards a base in the Hassakeh region” in northeastern Syria, the Iraqi official says to AFP. He adds that a rocket launcher platform had been found abandoned in the northern Rabia area, near the Syrian border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor confirms an evening attack against the base but does not comment on any potential damage. It adds in a brief statement that US forces had recently withdrawn from there.

Syria’s army took control of the base after the US-led coalition withdrew in mid-March.

Iraq has been unwillingly drawn into the conflict, which started on February 28 when the US and Israel launched a massive wave of strikes on Iran.

Pro-Tehran armed groups have claimed responsibility for near-daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups.