Attack on US base near the Baghdad airport

The base was struck by a Katyusha rocket close to Baghdad International Airport, an Iraqi security source told the Al Jazeera TV network on Saturday.

Another Iraqi source, based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, confirmed the attack in an interview with Rudaw Media Network.

American forces are present in Iraq under the so-called US-led international coalition to fight the Daesh terror group.

Basim Al-Awadi, the spokesman for the Iraqi government, had previously mentioned an agreement to terminate the coalition's mission. He claimed that the agreement was the product of high-level Iraqi committee meetings that produced satisfactory outcomes free from political pressure and conditions.

He added that the United States had also accepted the agreement and that the first phase of the withdrawal of foreign forces would be finished in September of next year, with the second phase to follow in September of 2026.

 Following the 2020 US assassinations of Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, both crucial anti-terror leaders who were instrumental in the defeat of ISIS in Iraq, the US military's presence in Iraq has become a source of public unhappiness.