US Air Force in Kuwait Reportedly Struck With 'Propaganda' Attack From Unknown Group

The US considers Kuwait, a tiny, oil-rich country bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia and situated close to Iran, to be a key non-NATO partner. Since Washington started the Gulf War in 1991 to drive out Iraqi troops after that country's invasion by Saddam Hussein, Kuwait and the US have maintained a close military alliance.

The US Air Force claimed on Saturday that a previously unidentified Iraqi extremist organization had conducted a "propaganda attack" against it by falsely claiming to have carried out a drone strike against American troops at an air facility in Kuwait, the Associated Press reported.

According to the news agency, the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing of the Air Force released its statement a few hours after the group going by the name Al-Waretheen, or "The Inheritors," claimed in an online post that it had attacked Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base on August 12 in a coordinated attack.

The group's statement reportedly showed a drone being fired from a stand in a video, but it provided no other evidence of an attack or any harm done to the base. A few dozen kilometers separate the air base from the Iraqi border.

The satellite images obtained by the outlet dated August 12 reportedly revealed no obvious damage at the site.

According to the report, the suspected attempt was intended to be revenge for the January 2020 US drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Baghdad, Iraq.

"The misinformation falsely stated an Iranian militia group used (drones) to carry out an attack on base," the US Air Force told the AP. "No such attack occurred."

Citing US military officials, the report stated that Al-Waretheen is likely an Iranian organization despite claiming to be an Iraqi group.

The US Air Force further relayed to the outlet that Kuwait and the Air Force "continue to project air power throughout the region without disruption," adding that the militant group's allegation "only aims to deceive their audience in believing a lie."

Approximately 13,500 American soldiers are said to be stationed in Kuwait, which also serves as the forward headquarters for US Army Central. These contingents backed both the 2003 American invasion of Iraq and subsequent operations against the Daesh* organization.

In recent years, a number of extremist groups have claimed strikes they say were directed at American forces in Iraq and which analysts in the media believe to have links to Iran. However, the Iraqi contractors that provided American soldiers in the nation were sometimes the target of such attacks.

The assertion also comes as Iran and the US resume what have been referred to as the penultimate round of negotiations regarding Tehran's shattered nuclear agreement with international powers.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other states