US Air Force Target of ‘Propaganda Attack’ in Kuwait

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — The US Air Force said on Saturday it was the subject of a “propaganda attack” by a previously unheard of Iraqi militant group that falsely claimed it launched a drone strike targeting US troops at an air base in Kuwait.

The statement from the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing of the Air Force came hours after the group calling itself Al-Waretheen or “The Inheritors” released an online statement claiming it targeted the Ali Al Salem Air Base on Aug. Kuwait. included a video of a drone being launched from a stand, but offered no evidence of an attack or any damage to the base.

The statement claimed the alleged attack was intended to avenge the US drone strike that killed a prominent Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020.

The air base is located a few tens of kilometers (miles) from the Iraqi border.

“The misinformation falsely claimed that an Iranian militia group was using (drones) to launch an attack on the base,” the air force statement told The Associated Press. “No such attack has taken place.”

The statement suggests the US believes Al-Waretheen is likely an Iranian group, although it described itself as Iraqi.

The Air Force added that the online claim is “only intended to mislead their public into believing a lie” and that the Air Force and Kuwait “continue to project air power across the region without interruption.”

Kuwait, a small, oil-rich country bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia, also close to Iran, is considered a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Kuwait and the US have had a close military partnership since America launched the 1991 Gulf War to expel Iraqi troops after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the country.

About 13,500 U.S. troops are stationed in Kuwait, which also houses the U.S. Army Front Headquarters. Those troops supported the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and subsequent operations against the Islamic State group.

Kuwait did not immediately acknowledge the claimed attack. The Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday night.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, citing anonymous “responsible” sources, called the claims of an attack “totally untrue”.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP since Aug. 12 show no apparent damage to the base.

A series of militant groups that analysts believe have ties to Iran have claimed attacks in recent years that they say targeted US forces in Iraq. Those roadside bombs, however, were aimed at Iraqi contractors supplying American troops in the country.

The claim also comes as what has been described as the latest round of negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s ruptured nuclear deal with world powers.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.