The Pentagon announced that the United States shot down three one-way attack drones targeting American forces in Iraq within 24 hours.

CNN
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The United States has shot down three one-way attack drones targeting US forces in Iraq, according to the US military, as US embassies face protests in a number of Middle Eastern countries over the war in Gaza.

In western Iraq, the United States intercepted two drones, destroying one and damaging the other. The US Central Command said in a statement that the attack resulted in coalition forces sustaining minor injuries.

The second attack in northern Iraq included one drone, which was destroyed without causing any casualties or damage.

The statement regarding the attack said: “At this moment of high alert, we are closely monitoring the situation in Iraq and the region.”

It is unclear at this point who launched the drones or how they were shot down, but such attacks are often attributed to Iran or Iranian-backed militias in the region.

Tensions in the region after a week of war in Gaza and an explosion at a Gaza hospital, which Palestinian officials say killed hundreds of civilians, have sparked widespread anger against Israel and the United States.

Anti-Israel protests erupted in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Iran, Turkey, and in Ramallah in the West Bank, following the explosion at the Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people. In Baghdad, security officials told CNN that security forces confronted protesters who tried to cross the bridge into the Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and Iraqi government offices.

Attacks on US forces in Iraq have become increasingly rare, especially after the United States ended its combat mission in Iraq and transitioned to an advise and assist role for the Iraqi military.

But attacks happen. In September last year, an American F-15 fighter jet took off to shoot down an Iranian drone that appeared to be heading to an American site in Erbil, Iraq.