Three armed drones intercepted and shot down near US base in northern Iraq

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Three armed drones were shot down in Iraq on Tuesday, near where U.S. and other international forces are stationed, officials said.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said its forces intercepted and shot down the drones over Erbil airport in northern Iraq at around 5:05 a.m. local time. It did not say if there were any casualties or damage to infrastructure.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Similar previous attacks have been claimed by a group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias.

Tuesday’s attack came hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at what it claimed were Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence “spy headquarters” near the U.S. Consulate in the northern Iraqi city.

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This image taken from video provided by Rudaw TV shows smoke rising from a building hit by a strike in Irbil, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Iran has announced that it launched strikes against a “spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” shortly after missiles hit an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.  (Rudaw TV via AP)

Four civilians were killed, and six people were injured after the Iranian missiles hit the upscale area near the consulate, according to the Kurdish regional government.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in addition to the strike in Iraq, it had fired several ballistic missiles at “terrorist operations,” including Islamic State targets, in Syria and destroyed them.

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Iran backs several terror and militia groups that launch attacks on Israel, U.S. forces or other international partners throughout the Middle East. (Fox News)

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched near-daily drone attacks on bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7

The attacks have been prompted by U.S. support for Israel.

Various militia groups have launched more than 130 attacks on U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. (Fox News)

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Conversely, Iran backs Hamas and its rule in the Gaza Strip. Iran also provides support to Hezbollah, a terror group that operates in Syria and Lebanon, which has also launched attacks against Israel in recent months.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.