Iraqi fighters fire rockets at US base in Syria

Baghdad/Damascus, April 22 (IANS) Five rockets were fired from Iraq toward a US military base in neighbouring Syria, an Iraqi security source told the media.The attack occurred when unidentified fighters launched the rockets from an Iraqi village near the town of Zummar, northwest of Mosul, the provincial capital of Nineveh, toward northeastern Syrian territories, the unnamed source from the provincial police said on Sunday.Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a failed attempt by Iranian-backed groups to attack a US base at the Kharab al-Jir airport with drones in the northern countryside of Syria's northeastern province of al-Hasakah, Xinhua news agency reported.The Britain-based watchdog group said the US ground defences successfully intercepted and shot down the drones before they reached the base.Following the drone attack, the Iranian-backed fighters launched missiles on the Kharab al-Jir base, said the observatory, adding that US ground defences engaged in intercepting targets in the sky. There were no casualties reported within the base.The war monitor noted that the Iranian-backed Islamic resistance groups stationed in Iraq were behind the attacks.--IANSint/khz

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