US forces in Iraq thwart drone attack at air base housing American troops

US forces stationed in Iraq came under fire in two separate drone attacks Wednesday — one of which injured a small number of American troops stationed at an air base in the country, a US official said.

The drones were launched at Iraq’s al Asad and al Harir air bases, but officials who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity would not disclose who they believed was behind the attempted attack that came amid growing tensions across multiple Middle Eastern countries due to the Israel-Hamas war.

In the first targeted attack, US forces intercepted a one-way drone, but it still exploded — injuring a few troops who were examined for possible traumatic brain injuries, and damaging some equipment on the base, according to one of the officials.

A sergeant stationed at the base told The Post that the explosive struck a hangar before 6 a.m. local time.

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The second projectile was launched at the al Harir base in Erbil, Iraq — where US forces are also housed — but the armed drone instead fell in a desert area near the village of Batas shortly after noon, according to US and Iraqi officials.

A largely unheard-of group, Tashkil al-Waritheen or the “Inheritor,” claimed responsibility for the second attack.

Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran had threatened to launch missiles and drones at US forces last week if the Biden administration intervened in the Israel-Hamas war to support the Jewish nation.

The US has 2,500 troops in Iraq and another 900 in Syria to aid local forces in fighting Islamic State.

Hours before the drones were set off, a strike hit a hospital in the Gaza Strip, reportedly killing at least 500 Palestinians — including dozens of young children.

Hamas called the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital strike “a horrific massacre” orchestrated by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military claimed the strike was the result of a misfired rocket launched by Islamic Jihad, a smaller radical Palestinian militant group that often works alongside Hamas.

Islamic Jihad dismissed those claims, accusing Israel of “trying hard to evade responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed.”

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The hospital bombing sent shockwaves throughout the region and protests against Israel emerged in the West Bank, Beirut, Iraq and Amman.

US security forces are on high alert following the growing tension as President Biden plans to arrive in Israel on Wednesday to show support for the strong US ally and to hopefully prevent the turbulent battle from spilling over into neighboring countries and becoming a larger war.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 2,778 people in Gaza — nearly two-thirds of whom were children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

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Another 1,200 victims are believed to be buried — alive or dead — under the rubble of destroyed buildings in the strip, the health officials said.

Israel launched the strikes in retaliation to Hamas terrorists’ surprise Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish nation in which they mercilessly slaughtered more than 1,400 people — mostly civilians — and abducted another 200.

With Post wires