Iraqi forces say no casualties reported in Iranian missile strike

The Iraqi military said Wednesday that no casualties were reported in the missile attacks earlier in the day against military bases housing U.S. troops.

According to a statement released by the media office affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, a total of 22 Iranian missiles were launched. Of them, 17 struck the Ayn al-Asad air base in Iraq's western province of Anbar, and five landed on the U.S. headquarters near the city of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The attacks occurred within half an hour between 01:45 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. local time (2245 and 2315 GMT on Tuesday), the statement said.

Two of the 17 missiles in western Iraq did not explode and had landed on Heittan area in west of the town of Heet, some 160 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the statement added.

"No casualties were recorded among the Iraqi forces, and more details to be released later," it added.

Earlier in the day, an army source from Anbar province told Xinhua that more than 20 Iranian ballistic missiles hit before dawn Ayn al-Asad air base in al-Baghdadi area, some 190 km northwest of Baghdad.

Sirens were heard inside the air base, while U.S. helicopters flew over the area, the source said.

Ayn al-Asad, previously named al-Qadisiyah, is the second largest air base in Iraq and has the largest number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

At the same time, more Iranian missiles also targeted another base located in Harir area, in east of Erbil, according to media reports.

The Iranian attack came three days after the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and prevent them from using Iraqi airspace and waters.

On Friday, a U.S. drone attacked a convoy at Baghdad International Airport, killing Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

More than 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against Islamic State militants, mainly providing training and advising for the Iraqi forces.