Rhino: US and Iraqi sources told Reuters on Friday that several rockets were fired at Iraq’s Ain al-Assad airbase where US-led coalition forces are based late on Thursday, with no reports of damage or casualties. The base itself was not hit in the attack, two US officials said. The attack comes two days after a Washington-hosted military meeting in which Iraqi and US officials discussed ending the coalition, a decade after it was formed to fight the Islamic State (IS) and repel the group’s invasion of Iraq and Syria. There was no major announcement at the conclusion of the talks, although US and Iraqi sources say an announcement on the start of a gradual withdrawal is likely in the coming weeks. Iraqi political and military factions aligned with Iran are pressuring the country’s government to quickly wind down the coalition and say they want all 2,500 troops to leave.
