The U.S. Has Dozens of Secret Bases Across the Middle East. They Keep Getting Attacked.

U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have come under repeated attack in recent weeks, including a rocket attack on al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on Monday that reportedly injured five U.S. military personnel and contractors. The renewed strikes, which began in July, mark a resumption of a low-level war between America and Iran’s proxies in the Middle East that had ebbed earlier this year.

“We can confirm that there was a suspected rocket attack on August 5th against U.S. and coalition forces at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq,” a spokesperson with U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, the umbrella organization overseeing the Middle East, told The Intercept by email. “Base personnel are conducting a post-attack damage assessment.” ….more