The Monday attack on Ain al-Asad was in response to last week’s US attack on Jurf al-Sakhar and had nothing to do with Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination, an Iraqi paramilitary commander told The New Region on Tuesday.

Speaking on the condition of anonimity, the commander said that they only decided to strike Ain al-Asad when the US struck Jurf al-Sakhar.

“We promised the Prime Minister not to target them as long as they did not carry out any military operations inside Iraq, but they violated this and attacked us in Jurf al-Sakhar,” the commander said.

“The current situation with the Americans is a blow for a blow,” he added. “Whenever they strike, we will strike.”

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the Monday missile attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq on Monday, which injured at least five US military personnel. 

The group, identifying themselves as "The Revolutionaries" (al-Thawriyoun) stated that they targeted the American-occupied base with several missiles and drones, vowing to continue their operations until all US troops leave Iraq.

Last Tuesday, the Pentagon said that US forces had carried out a “defensive” strike in Babil province targeting fighters who were trying to launch attack drones.

A Yemeni technical expert was among the four people killed in the strike.

According to the senior military commander, who spoke to The New Region on the condition of anonymity, the three Kataib Hezbollah members and the Yemeni Houthi technical expert “were testing a new generation of drones” near one of the Kataib Hezbollah’s headquarters in Jurf al-Sakhar when the strike targeted them

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command on Tuesday condemned the attack on Anbar’s Ain al-Asad airbase, rejecting any interior or foreign attack on Iraqi land and interests.

The statement from the Joint Operations Command said that they “categorically reject any attack from inside or outside Iraq, on Iraqi lands, interests and targets, and from any party that carries out this attack or breach or assists in it in one way or another.”