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The bases in Iraq reached by the attack of Iran 0:38
(CNN) - This Wednesday, two Iraqi bases that house US troops were targeted by more than a dozen Iranian missiles in retaliation for the death of Iran's most powerful military general in a US attack.
Iran promised revenge for the murder of General Qasem Soleimani in an attack with US drones in Baghdad on Friday, calling it "act of war" and "state terrorism."
MIRA: World leaders call for tension escalation and dialogue between the US and Iran
In a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite wing of the Iranian army that is also known as the IRGC, said the attacks were "a strong revenge" for the death of Soleimani.
This is what you need to know:
Trump has been at the base of Al-Assad
The al-Assad air base, which houses US troops, is one of the largest and oldest military bases in Iraq.
It is located in Anbar province, a focus of ISIS activity in western Iraq between 2014 and 2017. Anbar was the birthplace of Sunni extremism after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
LOOK: Analysis: Trump's reaction to the Iranian attack on bases with US troops in Iraq
In December 2018, President Donald Trump visited the troops in Al Assad. “We entered, we felt very safe when entering. It was a very difficult trip in certain aspects, but we felt very, very good, very safe, ”Trump said, according to a White House transcript.
Vice President Mike Pence visited the base a year later to celebrate Thanksgiving with about 150 service members.
Erbil's base is in Kurdistan
The military base in Erbil, also attacked by Iran on Wednesday morning, also houses US troops. It is located in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, run by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is a strong ally of the United States. The United States worked closely with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the fight against ISIS.
LOOK: Iran fires missiles at bases in Iraq with US military
After Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles on Wednesday morning, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the attack was "pointing to the base from which cowardly attacks were launched against our citizens and senior officials ”, apparently referring to the murder of Soleimani.
It is not clear whether the two bases played any role in the US attack.
There were no initial reports of US victims in any of the Iranian attacks on Wednesday, but an evaluation of the impact of the attacks is under way, a US official told CNN.
Iraqi security officials told CNN that there were no victims among the Iraqi security forces, after a previous preliminary report from an Iraqi security source indicated that there were Iraqi victims.
There are 5,000 US soldiers in Iraq
On Sunday, the Iraqi Parliament voted to expel US troops. Shiite paramilitaries backed by Iran have repeatedly called for the "immediate withdrawal" of US forces since the attack on Soleimani.
Over the weekend, they asked Iraqi security forces to maintain a distance of at least 1 kilometer from US bases, and warned Iraqis about becoming "human shields."
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In Baghdad, Iraqis have been worried about being involved in a growing war of power between the United States and Iran. Acting Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi has said that the withdrawal of US troops would be the only "way out" of more violence in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Trump said he intends to get US troops out of Iraq, but not immediately.
"I think we have done a fantastic job, but eventually we want to allow Iraq to handle its own affairs," Trump said in the Oval Office. "And that is very important. We want to leave, but this is not the right point. ”
The US military presence in Iraq has fluctuated greatly since the 2003 invasion. At its peak, the United States had 170,000 soldiers in Iraq. In 2011, former President Barack Obama withdrew US forces from the country. In 2014, about 5,000 soldiers were deployed in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government that sought US help in the fight against ISIS. Troop levels have been approximately the same since then.
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