U.S. to install third base in Iraq’s Anbar, near Syria

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) The United States is planning to install its third military base near Iraq’s borders with Syria, an official security source was quoted saying on Friday.

BasNews quoted the source from Iraq’s Anbar province saying that the U.S. is planning to inaugurate its third base in western Anbar, near the borders with Syria, to join its already operating bases, Ain al-Assad (in al-Baghdadi region) and Habbaniya (east of the city of Ramadi).

According to the security source, the new base will cater for Iraqi and international affairs in upstream Euphrares cities, and will over see the Anbar cities of Rutba, Qaem, Hadtiha, Annah, Rawa, the western desert and the strategic international road.

The United States has led an international military coalition since 2014 to combat Islamic State militants who invaded a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria to declare a self-styled “caliphate” rule.

An Iraqi, coalition-backed campaign managed in December 2017 to retake all bastions held by Islamic State militants, ending with Anbar’s city of Rawa.

Though the Iraqi government had said it tightened its grip on the borders with Syria, where militants are still also active, the country has seen occasional attacks against security and civilians since the declaration of the extremist group’s defeat, prompting the Iraqi government to launch a number of offensives at the group’s locations inside Syria and near the Iraqi borders.