The ballistic missile attacks on two US bases in Iraq last week failed to kill any members of the US-led coalition. However, could that have been the point? While senior officers at Ayn al-Asad Air Base saw bloodlust, other experts dissent, pointing to deliberate restraint by Tehran.
‘Miraculous' No One Died
“These were designed and organized to inflict as many casualties as possible,” Lt. Col. Tim Garland, commander of Task Force Jazeera and a senior official at Ayn al-Asad, told the Washington Post about the January 8 missile attack. Eleven ballistic missiles launched by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck the base as part of “Operation Martyr Soleimani,” a vengeful response to the US assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani several days earlier in Baghdad.
The missiles struck the US section of the base, which is shared with Iraqi forces and sits about equidistant between Baghdad and Iraq's western border with Syria. The base houses about 2,000 troops: 1,500 of them from the US-led coalition and the other 500 Iraqi.
While no one was killed in the attack, several dozen US troops were treated for concussions afterward. Garland noted the missiles came in waves about 15 minutes apart, which caught US personnel out in the open as they attempted to assess the damage from the previous attack and search for potential casualties.
That no one died in the hour-and-a-half bombardment was “miraculous,” Lt. Col. Staci…
