Drones shot down over Iraqi airbase housing US troops and coalition forces

 Al-Asad Airbase, one of the largest and oldest military bases in Iraq, pictured in a 2019 aerial photo.

(CNN)Two drones were shot down over an Iraqi airbase housing US troops and Iraqi and coalition forces on Sunday, the Iraqi military said in a statement.

The air defense system at al-Asad Airbase, one of the largest and oldest military bases in Iraq, intercepted and shot down the drones, the statement said.
Several hours before, the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center (BDSC) in the Iraqi capital was attacked by one rocket round, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, Wayne Marotto, said in a tweet. "The rocket impacted near the BDSC and caused no injuries or damage. The attack is under investigation," he added.
    In another tweet, Marotto said each attack against the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq "and the coalition undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi national sovereignty."
      It is unclear who launched the drones over the base or who was behind the rocket attack at the BDSC.
        Last year, Al-Asad airbase was attacked with missiles by Iran in response to a strike near Baghdad airport that killed Iran's most powerful military commander, Qasem Soleimani.
        Anbar province, where the base is located, was a hotbed of ISIS activity in western Iraq between 2014 and 2017.
          The Biden administration is eyeing an eventual withdrawal of US troops from Iraq as the country's security forces grow more capable and the threat of ISIS wanes, the two countries announced in a joint statement in April.
            The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the global coalition to defeat what remains of the ISIS caliphate that previously controlled parts of Iraq and Syria.
            The troops have now shifted to training and advisory tasks, "thereby allowing the for the redeployment of any remaining forces from Iraq," the joint US-Iraq statement said.