The military base hosting U.S. and coalition forces in northern Iraq's Irbil came under fire by an armed drone on Friday, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) anti-terrorism service said.
The statement did not elaborate on whether the attack caused casualties or infrastructure damage on the al-Harir base.
The U.S. military on Friday also publicly thanked Iraq's police for their Jan. 3 discovery of a land-based cruise missile that a U.S. official said was aimed at American troops in the country.
"The Coalition is appreciative of the efforts of the legitimate security forces in Iraq for their efforts to prevent future attacks," U.S. Central Command said in a post on social media platform X.
The praise came as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office announced it was forming a committee to prepare to close down the U.S.-led international coalition's mission in the country following a U.S. strike against a militia leader blamed for attacks against U.S. troops.
Sudani, whose government relies on support from Tehran-aligned parties, has repeatedly said in recent weeks he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq.
But the latest remarks came amid soaring regional tensions, with the repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war, raging for nearly three months, increasingly felt in Iraq and across the Middle East.
A U.S. drone strike on Thursday killed a military commander and another member of Harakat al-Nujaba, a faction of Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces – PMF) – a collection of mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units now integrated into the Iraqi armed forces.
Washington labeled the attack in Iraq's capital an act of self-defense, while Sudani's government decried it as an act of "blatant aggression" on the part of the U.S.-led coalition.
The Iraqi leader on Friday "affirmed (his) firm position seeking to put an end to the existence of the international coalition, as the justifications for its existence have ended," according to a statement issued by his office.
He said "dialogue" to take place soon would "determine the procedure to end this presence," the statement said.
It noted that Sudani was speaking at a commemoration for slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations and was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
The U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq, deployed since 2014 in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group, have come under regular attacks since fighting erupted on Oct. 7 between Israel and Hamas.
Washington says there have been more than 100 attacks on its forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria since mid-October.
Many have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose U.S. support for Israel in the Gaza war.
The United States has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the multinational coalition set up at the height of Daesh's territorial gains. Other partners include France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Baghdad in late 2017 declared victory over the group, but terrorist cells remain in remote areas of northern Iraq and continue to sporadically launch attacks.
