{"id":198469,"date":"2019-12-16T14:34:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T14:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/pentagon-chief-urges-iraq-to-stop-attacks-on-bases-housing-u-s-forces.html"},"modified":"2019-12-16T14:34:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T14:34:47","slug":"pentagon-chief-urges-iraq-to-stop-attacks-on-bases-housing-u-s-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/pentagon-chief-urges-iraq-to-stop-attacks-on-bases-housing-u-s-forces.html","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon chief urges Iraq to stop attacks on bases housing U.S. forces"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"Image_zoom\"><\/figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><p>BAGHDAD (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Monday urged Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to take steps to prevent bases housing U.S. troops from being shelled, a statement from the premier\u2019s office said. <\/p>\n<p>Esper\u2019s call came after a senior U.S. military official warned last week that attacks by Iranian-backed groups on bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq were pushing all sides closer to an uncontrollable escalation. <\/p>\n<p>Rocket strikes targeting Iraqi bases where members of the U.S.-led coalition are also stationed have increased in past weeks with no claim of responsibility from any party. <\/p>\n<p>However, the U.S. military official said intelligence and forensic analyses of the rockets and launchers pointed to Iranian-backed Shi\u2019ite Muslim militia groups.  <\/p>\n<p>Esper \u201cexpressed his concerns over the shelling of some installations and the necessity to take procedures to stop it,\u201d a statement from Abdul Mahdi\u2019s office quoted the Pentagon chief as saying during a phone call. <\/p>\n<p>Abdul Mahdi warned Esper that unilateral action could have negative consequences that will be difficult to control and might jeopardize Iraq\u2019s sovereignty.  <\/p>\n<p>Abdul Mahdi resigned last month under pressure from mass anti-government protests. He is carrying out his duties in a caretaker capacity. <\/p>\n<p>Tension between the United States and Iran has risen as a result of U.S. sanctions that are hitting Tehran hard. The two sides have also traded blame over attacks on oil installations, militia arms depots and bases hosting U.S. forces. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Attribution_content\">Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Giles Elgood<\/p>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/feeds.reuters.com\/~r\/Reuters\/PoliticsNews\/~3\/-ijE7bhOSFY\/pentagon-chief-urges-iraq-to-stop-attacks-on-bases-housing-u-s-forces-idUSKBN1YK0YK<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BAGHDAD (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Monday urged Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to take steps to prevent bases housing U.S. troops from being shelled, a statement from the premier\u2019s office said. Esper\u2019s call came after a senior U.S. military official warned last week that attacks by Iranian-backed groups on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-198469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}