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Several US personnel and a member of Iraq's security forces were wounded in a ballistic missile attack on Ain Al Asad airbase, west of Baghdad, on Saturday, the US military said.
The strike on the US base in Anbar province, which mainly houses Iraqi forces, is the largest missile attack on US troops since Iran struck the same base in 2020, in retaliation for an attack that killed Iranian Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani near Baghdad.
Iran-backed militant groups fired a number of ballistic missiles and rockets from inside Iraq at about 6.30pm local time, the US military confirmed.
“The air defence systems in the base intercepted most of the missiles, while others landed in the base,” a statement said.
US forces did not confirm the extent of any injuries but said personnel were being evaluated for “head injuries”, while “damage assessments are ongoing”.
Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October, the US military has come under attack at least 58 times in Iraq and another 83 times in Syria by Iran-backed militants, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.
The militants are seeking to impose a cost on the US for its support of Israel against the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In a dangerous development, Iran on Monday struck Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, with ballistic missiles in what it said was an attack on Israeli spy headquarters, a claim denied by Iraqi and Iraqi-Kurdish officials. The strikes, Iran said, were in retaliation for attacks inside Iran and an assassination of four senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' advisers in Syria.
Five civilians, including two children, were killed in the missile strike in Erbil, Iraqi authorities said.
The UN special representative to Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, on Saturday appealed to all sides to exercise maximum restraint.
"The Middle East is at a critical juncture, with the conflict raging in Gaza and armed action elsewhere threatening a major conflagration," Ms Plasschaert said in a statement.
"Iraq is at risk of being drawn even further into this conflict."
These attacks, she warned, "stand to undo the hard-won stability of the country and the achievements it has made in recent years".
Iraq is deeply concerned about becoming a battleground for fighting between the US, Israel and Iran.
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani announced moves to evict US forces after the escalation between them and Tehran-allied Shiite militias. More than a dozen fighters, including a senior militia leader, have been killed in US strikes.
The Pentagon said it has not been formally notified of any plans to end US troop presence in the country and says its forces are deployed to Iraq at the invitation of the government in Baghdad.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which in 2014 seized large parts of both those countries before being defeated.
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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