Iraq:British Soldier Killed in Action Identified

The British Soldier killed  during an Iran-backed militia attack on Camp Taji,Iraq has been identified by the Ministry of Defence as LCPL Brodie Gillon.She was a reservist member of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry.*
In civilian life,LCPL Gillon was a self-employed sports physiotherapist.She had joined the regiment in 2015 as a Combat Medical Technician (CMT),and qualified as a Class I CMT in 2018.*
LCPL Gillon had volunteered to serve in Iraq.She was highly regarded both within the Regiment and beyond.*

US,British Troops Killed in Rocket Attack on Coalition Base - Updated

Two US troops, reportedly a US Army Soldier and a US Air Force Airman,as well as a British service member, were killed in a rocket attack on the Operation Inherent Resolve base Camp Taji,Iraq on 11 March 2020, several official sources reported.Twelve other Coalition members were wounded.Identities are being withheld pending family notification.*
Camp Taji hosts Coalition personnel for their train, advise and assist mission to the Iraqi Security Forces.The base was hit by about 18 107mm Katyusha rockets.The ISF located an abandoned rocket launcher truck a few miles from Camp Taji.*
Subsequently the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an airstrike by unidentified aircraft hit Iranian-backed militia bases in the al-Hasyan area of Syria near the Iraqi border, killing 26 militia members and wounding more than 15 others.Apparently this was a retaliatory strike.Both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised to hold those responsible for the rocket attack to account.*
Update:The US says it launched airstrikes on five bases containing advanced Iranian weapons such as Katyusha rockets.The bases belong to the Iranian-backed militia Kitaib Hezbollah,which US CENTCOM commander Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie,USMC,notes is the only militia that has attacked Coalition bases with such weaponry.At the same time,the US denies that it participated in the airstrikes reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Possibly Israel carried out those strikes.*
Most likely the rocket attack by Iranian proxies in the region is a continuation of Iran's hostility to the West in general, and the United States in particular, which flared up in 2019 with similar attacks on OIR bases that killed an American contractor.In response, the US carried out an airstrike that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.*

Iranian Students Ransack British Embassy

In a move that has haunting echoes for Americans,a crowd of Iranian students rushed the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday evening,vandalising the premises and terrorising diplomats and their families.Unable to break the lock on the compound's iron gate,the activists just climbed over it.Once inside,they trashed documents and set fires,burning the Union Jack and raising a Shiite banner.Chanting "Death to England,"they took hostages,whom they later released.
A British residential compound was stormed in the fracas.Iranian security forces did little to stop the intruders.The British Foreign Office expressed outrage and condemned the incident.The student mob was linked to the Basij plainclothes militia.
The U.K. has recently joined Canada and the U.S. in imposing sanctions on Iranian banks to thwart Iran's suspected nuclear weapons development programme.
In 1979,a similar group of students attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran,seizing dozens of American hostages and holding them for 444 days.March 2007 saw the Iranians seize 15 British Sailors and Marines,accusing them of violating Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf,which the U.K. denied.They were released after two tense weeks in captivity.

Iranian-Backed Militia Attacks Base

On 30 June,three U.S. troops were killed and seven wounded in a rocket attack on Camp Shocker,a base on the Iran-Iraq border.A Shiite militia with Iranian and Lebanese ties,Kataib Hezbollah,or Hezbollah Brigades,is being blamed for the attack.They had claimed responsibility for a similar action that killed five U.S. troops earlier in the month.
Kataib Hezbollah has ties to Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.They are focusing on attacking U.S. soldiers in Iraq,believing that American forces may remain in Iraq beyond the 31 December deadline for withdrawal agreed with the Iraqi government.These militants use a weapon called IRAMs,or improvised rocket-assisted mortars,which are only made in Iran.
Fifteen U.S. troops died in the Iraq War in June,the most since April 2009.Fourteen of them were killed in action.Besides Kataib Hezbollah,two other Shiite militias have been involved in recent attacks on Americans:League of the Righteous and Promised Day Brigades.
Iran denies it is supporting these militants,who post videos of their attacks on Americans on the Internet.Many of their leaders fled to Iran in 2008 when U.S. and Iraqi forces went after them in the summer of that year.Several other militia leaders were captured in that operation.Besides IRAMs,these militants use improvised explosive devices,mortars,rockets,rocket-propelled grenades and small arms in their attacks.

Training Base Attacked in Baghdad

Five U.S. troops died in a rocket attack by Shiite miltiamen in Baghdad on Monday,and five more were wounded.The truck-mounted rockets were fired at joint U.S.-Iraqi Forward Operating Base Loyalty,near the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.The U.S. forces were training Iraqi national police officers at the base.
About 4500 U.S. troops have died in the Iraq War.So far this year,30 U.S. troops have been killed,which is roughly on pace with last year's toll.
At the height of the conflict in 2007,961 Americans were killed.Monday's attack was the worst single incident for U.S. forces in Iraq in two years,however,and another U.S. soldier died on Wednesday in southern Iraq.The Shiite militias often target Iraqi government compounds and hospitals,but attacking U.S. troops definitively demonstrates their competence and courage,from their point of view,as well as helps ensure that the U.S. does not extend its mission in Iraq beyond 31 December,in their opinion.
Iraq's government realistically has until the end of October to request that U.S. troops continue their advise,train and assist role in Iraq.Since it takes about two months for the 46,000 remaining Americans to withdraw,a later request would effectively be too late,the withdrawal having already begun by 31 October.
U.S. officials such as Admiral Michael Mullen,outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,made it clear that the U.S. is open to staying on in its supportive mission,Operation New Dawn.
Iraq has about 650,000 personnel in the army and national police,but they need instruction and backup in intelligence,logisitics,maintenance,combined arms operations,and border and airspace protection.

Iraq War:Considerable Resistance Still Met

The Iraq War,now known as Operation New Dawn,continues as U.S. troops are still subjected to substantial enemy fire,particularly in the south of the country.There,Shiite militia groups roam about,firing rockets,mortars,small arms and grenades at the Americans,as well as placing armor-piercing IEDs along U.S. supply routes from Kuwait.
Around 46,000 U.S. forces remain in Iraq.The Iraqi government is currently deliberating on whether to request further U.S. military help beyond the withdrawal deadline of 31 December.In the north,Sunni militants aligned with al-Qaida have been the problem.The Shiite militants in the south are believed to be Iranian-supported.
Only a small number of U.S. maritime forces remain alongside U.S. Army units in Iraq,mostly,if not entirely,as individual augmentees assigned to the advise,train and assist mission.
The Iraq War began in 2003,and at its peak in 2007,about 170,000 U.S. troops were in country.Around 4500 American service members have died in the war.In April 2011 alone,11 were killed in Iraq,five of them during military operations and six in non-combat incidents.