President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed in the White House Situation Room on Monday after a suspected rocket attack against a military base in Iraq left a number of US personnel injured.
Biden, 81, said he discussed “developments in the Middle East” with his national security team, according to a post on his X account which did not acknowledge the latest attack on US troops in the region.
“We received updates on threats posed by Iran and its proxies, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, and preparations to support Israel should it be attacked again,” the president said.
“We also discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing,” he added.
US officials said “several” Americans were wounded in the attack against Al Asad airbase in western Iraq, Reuters reported.
“Base personnel are conducting a post-attack damage assessment,” one US official told the outlet.
At least one of the two Katyusha rockets fired at US forces fell inside the airbase, according to the report.
The attack comes as the US and Israel brace for retaliation from Iran and its proxies over the deaths of two top Hamas and Hezbollah officials last week.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was reportedly assassinated when a covertly placed bomb detonated inside his Tehran guesthouse, while Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr, who is believed to have ordered the rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 children last month, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
The US has denied any involvement in the deaths of the terrorist groups’ leaders. Iran has blamed Israel for the attacks and has vowed to take revenge.
It’s unclear whether Iran or one of its many proxies were behind Monday’s attack.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered more US troops, ships, fighter jets and “land-based ballistic missile defense” systems to the Middle East to counter potential retaliatory strikes from Iran.
The “posture adjustments” were made “to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies,” according to the Pentagon.
The Israel Defense Forces have been on “high alert” since last week over fears of an attack from Iran.
Last week, the US conducted its first airstrike against Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq since February, hitting a base south of Baghdad used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces – killing four PMF members.
US officials described the airstrike as defensive and aimed at militants preparing to launch an attack.
The Institute for the Study of War notes that PMP – a formal Iraqi security force – has been “infiltrated” by Iran and is used to “wield significant influence in Iraq.”
Since last October, in response to US support for Israel’s war against Hamas, Iran-backed militia groups have launched more than 170 attacks on US military personnel in Iraq, Syria and Jordan, wounding dozens of US troops.
Three US soldiers were killed in one such attack on a US outpost in Jordan in January, which prompted a series of retaliatory US airstrikes.
