Iran-backed Iraqi militias launched missile attacks against three US bases in northeastern Syria last weekend, according to a report from the region. A US defense official did not deny that the missile strikes took place. At least five US bases in Iraq and Syria have come under fire from Iran-backed militias since Israel launched strikes against Iran on June 12, 2025. While no group has taken responsibility for the attack, the Islamic Resistance of Iraq (IRI), a collection of Iran-supported militias, is the only entity that has carried out nearly 200 attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria in the past year and a half.
US troops at the Kharab al Jir base, Patrol Base Shaddadi, and Rumalyn Landing Zone bases, as well as US troops stationed in the Ghuweiran district in Hasakah province, were attacked with “several Iranian missiles” between June 14-15, Asharq al Awsat reported. All of the missiles were intercepted, and no US casualties have been reported.
A US defense official with knowledge of the region would neither confirm nor deny the reports of attacks on US personnel by Iran-backed militias.
“We are aware of these reports but have nothing operational to provide,” the defense official told FDD’s Long War Journal. Further inquiries regarding the Israel-Iran conflict were referred to the White House.
Asharq al Awsat provided a detailed accounting of what it described as “a coordinated strike by Iranian-linked groups.” The report cited “local monitoring groups, media activists, and eyewitnesses,” as well as a military officer in the Syrian Democratic Forces, the US-backed Kurdish militia that controls much of northeastern Syria. According to the report, US activity at the bases increased as radars were turned on, illumination flares were fired to increase visibility at night, air defense systems were activated, and US fighters increased patrols in the airspace above the bases.
US forces reportedly successfully intercepted the missiles. In one case, a “local monitoring platform on Facebook published images and videos documenting the Iranian missile strikes on Syrian territory,” according to the Asharq al Awsat report. The missiles are thought to have been launched from across the border in Iraq, where the Iranian-backed militias are based, and have launched attacks on US bases in Syria in the past.
FDD’s Long War Journal assesses the Asharq al Awsat report as credible given the level of detail and sourcing provided, as well as a US defense official’s non-denial of the report. Iran-backed militias are reported to have carried out two other attacks on US forces in Iraq over the weekend, and one of these reports has been confirmed.
The Associated Press, citing a US defense official, reported on June 14 that three drones targeted Ain al Assad airbase in western Iraq but were shot down. On June 15, local Iraqi media reported that US forces downed a drone near the American mission in Erbil in northern Iraq.
The Iran-backed militias have not claimed credit for any of the five reported attacks. While these militias have increased their anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric and even threatened to attack US forces in the region since June 13, they have yet to own last weekend’s failed strikes.
The Iraqi and Syrian militias, under the aegis of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, have launched more than 180 attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan since Hamas and its allies launched their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The IRI has deployed drones, rockets, missiles, and mortars in attacks against US forces in the region. Additionally, the group has claimed to have launched scores of attacks against Israel, although most of these attacks were ineffective.
Under the Biden administration, the US ignored these attacks on US forces as long as US troops were not killed, as the administration feared being pulled into a wider regional war with Iran and its proxies. This calculus changed after the IRI killed three US service members and injured 25 in a coordinated drone strike on a base in northeast Jordan on January 28, 2024. After that attack, the administration heavily targeted the militias in Iraq and Syria, which ultimately led to an unspoken truce between the two combatants.
These militias include several battle-hardened groups that have fought against the US military and the Islamic State over the past two decades. Some of these militias are listed by the US as terrorist organizations, and collectively, they are responsible for the murder of at least 600 American soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2011.
