An attack on US forces in Iraq puts Biden to the test

Damage caused in the vicinity of Erbil airport by the attack on US forces on Monday.AZAD LASHKARI / Reuters

A rocket attack on US-led forces in northern Iraq last night killed a civilian contractor and wounded nine other people, including a US soldier.

The operation, for which a pro-Iranian militia took responsibility on Tuesday, is the most serious of its kind in the last year and represents a challenge for the new US President Joe Biden.

The aggression tests its willingness to reduce tensions with Iran, which has denied having anything to do with it.

"The American occupier will not be free from our attacks in any inch of the homeland, even in Kurdistan, where we promise you more qualitative operations," says the message spread by the Awliya al Dam Brigades. Observers link this new militia, which is has made known in recent months in actions against US interests, with the pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah, which Washington has designated a terrorist organization and harassed on various occasions.

The target of the attack was the military base operated by the international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) at Erbil Airport, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Coalition spokesman Wayne Maroto has tweeted that the dead contractor is not a US national, although five of the nine wounded are, including the only affected soldier.

Of the 14 projectiles fired, three fell into the base, according to the same source.

Update: CJTF-OIR confirms approx.

14 107 mm rockets launched with 3 impacting within EAB, Feb 15 at 2130 hours (Iraqi time).

One civilian contractor was killed (Not US), and 9 injured (8 CIV contractors / 1 US MIL) - 4 US / 1 US MIL concussion protocol.

- OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) February 16, 2021

Both the Iraqi and Kurdistan leaders have denounced the aggression against their sovereignty without actually identifying the origin of the attack.

Local analysts have it clear.

“This is a clear Iranian message to the Kurdistan government and the United States.

The type of missiles, the shuttle, the name of the group that has taken responsibility and the language of the statement proclaim a

made in Iran,

”media consultant Hiwa Osman told EL PAÍS.

Although the Iranian foreign spokesman has rejected any connection to the attack, Osman dismisses the denial.

"As if that Ministry had the slightest idea of ​​what the Revolutionary Guard or the Qods Force do," he adds, referring to the expeditionary force of the Iranian Army.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has declared himself "outraged" by the attack.

The message is unmistakable at a time when the Biden Administration is considering returning to the nuclear deal with Iran and is considering how to approach the relationship with a regime whose diplomacy demands respect while its Revolutionary Guard intervenes in neighboring countries.

In fact, in recent weeks militias supported by that Army in Iraq and Yemen have intensified their actions against the United States and its allies, especially Saudi Arabia.

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“It is the first test that Joe Biden has faced in Iraq since he assumed the presidency less than a month ago.

How he handles this incident is going to affect how he is perceived not only in Iraq, but in the region, ”Mina al Obaidi, editor of the

United Arab Emirates

newspaper

The National

, wrote in an opinion article

.

In his opinion, "declarations of condemnation and calls to those responsible will be interpreted as a timid response to the militias supported by Iran."

Both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia fear that Biden will prioritize a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis with Iran over regional security and stability.

Militia attacks on US forces rose sharply last year after the US assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani at the Baghdad airport.

In March, rockets killed three soldiers, one British and two Americans, at a base near the Iraqi capital.

The attacks subsided in October when Washington threatened to close its Embassy in Iraq and then-President Donald Trump conveyed the message that if a US citizen were killed, he would retaliate against Iran.

Since then, the actions have been signed by new groups, in an attempt to blur their paternity, and they had reduced their scope (most interrupt the circulation of the convoys that supply the coalition without causing victims), while maintaining the pressure about the American military and its allies.