US military officials in Iraq have grown increasingly alarmed over attacks by the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd Shabi forces using drones to evade detection systems around military bases and diplomatic facilities, Washington Post reported.
In place of rockets, the forces have turned at times to small, fixed-wing drones that fly too low to be picked up by defensive systems, military officials, and diplomats claim.
An official with the so-called US-led coalition against ISIL terrorists described the evolving drone threat as the military mission’s biggest concern in Iraq.
In April, a drone strike targeted a CIA hangar inside the airport complex in the northern city of Irbil, according to officials familiar with the matter. The drone’s flight was tracked to within 10 miles of the site, but its path was then lost as it moved into a civilian flight path, the coalition official claimed.
A similar drone attack in May on the sprawling Ain al-Asad airbase raised similar concerns among coalition commanders about how Iraqi forces are adapting their tactics, according to officials and personnel on base.
“The damage wasn’t huge but the coalition were very upset. They told our commanders that it was a major escalation,” said one Iraqi soldier stationed at Ain al-Asad, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Ain al-Asad was previously targeted by Iran with ballistic missiles in January 2020 in response to the US assassination of Iranian top commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani earlier that month.
RHM/PR
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