Two years after an attack that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, two armed drones were shot down near a coalition military base in Iraq.
Two armed drones were shot down Monday near Baghdad’s international airport, according to multiple news reports. The drones were reportedly approaching a military base near the airport that houses U.S. troops. An unnamed security official with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq told Reuters that, “two fixed-wing suicide drones” were shot down without incident, and described the incident as a “dangerous attack on a civilian airport.” There were no reports of any injuries or damage from the incident, according to an Iraqi security official who confirmed the incident to the Associated Press. The drones were engaged by the C-RAM defense system that is deployed to Baghdad to provide security against aerial attacks. The foiled attack falls on the second anniversary of the 2020 drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. That bombing, which also occurred near Baghdad’s international airport, also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq. Ordered by then-President Donald Trump, the Pentagon said that the strike was in response to months of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq by Soleimani’s forces.
