Shafaq News / Since the onset of the latest Israel-Hamas war, triggered by the unprecedented October 7 massacre of Israelis by the Gaza Strip-based militants, the United States has redeployed formidable air, land, and naval forces to the Middle East. In addition to two aircraft carrier strike groups and land-based F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets and A-10 attack aircraft, Washington is also deploying advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, and MIM-104 Patriot air defense missile systems. It should place at least one of these systems in Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil.

The U.S. is bolstering its military presence in the region to deter Iran and defend its forces against Iran-backed militia attacks amidst fears of a wider regional war, especially if Tehran’s proxy militias respond to an Israeli ground war in Gaza by attacking American military and civilian targets throughout the Middle East.

Consequently, the U.S. has warned its citizens against traveling to Iraq and ordered the evacuation of all non-emergency staff from its Baghdad embassy and Erbil consulate. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, U.S. bases and troops in Iraq and Syria have already come under fresh rocket and drone attacks.

The U.S. military won’t specify where it is deploying the THAAD and Patriot systems, only confirming they will “be throughout the theater” in the U.S. Central Command’s area of operation, hence the broader Middle East. These cutting-edge systems may be positioned in Israel as another tangible sign of U.S. support and at airbases in the Arab Gulf countries hosting American troops and aircraft.

However, deploying at least one system to Erbil would enhance U.S. force posture in a strategically important region and give a local partner some much-needed reassurance.

The White House believes Iran is “actively facilitating” rocket and drone attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. If Washington decides against deploying air defenses in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran and its proxies could identify it as a weak spot and carry out more strikes there, potentially harming American personnel and local civilians.

The threat isn’t merely hypothetical. Iranian proxies have targeted the Harir Air Base outside of the Kurdish capital twice already this month alone. The attacks did not cause any casualties or serious damage, possibly because they were warning shots intended to demonstrate the ability of these militias to hit the base.

Even though it’s in a relatively rural area, past attacks on Harir have endangered civilians in the base’s vicinity.

The U.S. also has a troop base on the grounds of Erbil International Airport, EIA, which has come under intermittent attacks in recent years. One such attack in February 2021 saw some rockets raining down on a residential area near the airport. That attack killed a non-American civilian contractor on the base and seriously injured an Iraqi civilian on the street, who died of his injuries a week later.

When Iran attacked U.S. troops in Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq’s western Anbar province in January 2020 with ballistic missiles in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad days earlier, there weren’t any air defenses on the base to shield them.

The attack did not kill or severely injure any troops—nevertheless, some sustained traumatic brain injuries. Washington subsequently deployed Patriot batteries at Al-Asad and EIA. However, those Patriots have since been redeployed, undoubtedly due to the limited global supply of these high-end systems.

(Forbes)