The same U.S. firebase where a Marine died over the weekend from the Islamic State rocket attack took small arms fire on Monday, according to a spokesman.
Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said enemy small arms fire was not close enough to do any damage and that no U.S. personnel were wounded in the attack.
Fewer than 200 Marines are at Firebase Bell in northern Iraq, which is a couple hundred meters from the Iraqi base in Makhmour where troops are staging to launch an offensive on Mosul.
The small-arms attack followed the attack by two rockets over the weekend that killed Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin and wounded several others. Warren said most of those wounded were immediately able to return to duty, but that some had to be evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
These two attacks prompted some to ask how the administration could continue saying that U.S. troops are not in combat. While Warren acknowledged that war is dangerous, he stressed that these Marines are behind the forward line of troops.
He also said the Marines are there only for force protection of Iraqi troops and U.S. advisers as they prepare to retake Mosul.
“Bringing these force protection Marines into position to protect those is just that, it’s force protection and if these troops end up conducting other operations, then we can address it then,” he said.
He also stressed that radar and overhead surveillance, not American spotters on the ground, will help in target spotting.
While the Mosul operation is likely several months away, Warren said the Marines at the firebase are considered temporary personnel.
Warren also said the U.S. military has ordered him not to reveal the number of U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq, instead saying only that the country is below the 3,870 force cap.
Asked why, Warren said “I don’t have a reason for not releasing this number other than it’s the orders that I’m under.”
