BAGHDAD, June 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Two drones launched from Iran towards 
Israel were shot down over Iraq by the US-led international coalition to 
defeat the Islamic State group, two Iraqi military officials told AFP on 
Sunday.

"The international coalition at Ain al-Asad (military base) shot down two 
Iranian drones that were en route to Israel," one official said, referring to 
an Iraqi airbase housing foreign troops in western Iraq. 

The drones were shot down overnight Saturday to Sunday, he added, speaking on 
condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. 

The other official said the drones were targeted because they entered the 
defensive perimeter of the anti-jihadist coalition, where troops are 
instructed to engage any potential threat.

Israel on Friday launched unprecedented strikes on Iran, hitting military and 
nuclear sites as well as residential areas. In response, the Islamic republic 
has fired hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel.

Several missiles and drones have fallen in Iraqi territory, mostly in the 
desert, without causing casualties.

An "explosive drone" was shot down by the coalition at Ain al-Asad on Friday, 
according to an Iraqi official. 

The government in Baghdad is a close ally of Tehran, but also a strategic 
partner of Iran's arch-foe the United States, which has some 2,500 troops in 
Iraq as part of the anti-jihadist coalition.

Baghdad and Washington have agreed on a timetable for the gradual withdrawal 
of the coalition's forces. 

By September, the troops are scheduled to leave bases in federal Iraq -- 
including Ain al-Asad -- and by the end of 2026, they are set to withdraw 
from the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

Influential Iraqi armed group Kataeb Hezbollah on Sunday warned the United 
States about direct involvement in Israel's attack on Iran. 

"The Islamic republic needs no military support from anyone to repel the 
criminal Zionist entity -- it has the men and capabilities to put (Israeli 
Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu in the dust," it said in a statement. 

"We are closely monitoring the movements of the American enemy's army. If 
America intervenes in the war, we will act directly and without hesitation 
against its interests and bases throughout the region."