US Firebase in Iraq Where Marine Killed Was a 'Secret'

A "secret" U.S. firebase in Iraq had been operational just days before a Marine was killed in Saturday's attack on the Americans, CNN reported. The base is now quickly being fortified and reinforced.

CNN said the Pentagon had planned this week to acknowledge that the firebase, with a "couple of hundred" Marines, existed – something that had not been made public

The Pentagon made mention of the firebase in a statement on Sunday about Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, 27, who was killed in the attack, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

"Staff Sergeant Cardin and the other Marines injured in the attack yesterday on the base near Makhmour in northern Iraq were there to provide force protection capability in support of the fight against Daesh," said Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of U.S. Central Command in the statement.

The firebase, called the Nineveh Operations Center, is a primary base supporting the Iraqis' effort to take control of Mosul, according to the Military Times,  The base is the headquarters and command center for the Iraqi army's 15th Division, a unit that participated in an American-led training program last year, said the Times.

"Makhmour is along the edge of the Kurdish-controlled territory near the ISIS-held Tigris River valley," noted the Times. "It is also near the site of a mustard gas attack last year and also a foiled ISIS attempt to launch chlorine gas rounds. Last August, Islamic State militants fired chemical weapons landed near Makhmour in August and sickened dozens of Kurdish troops."

Newsmax, reporting earlier in wire reports, said a group of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, will join the U.S. forces already in Iraq battling Islamic State.

The 26th MEU is currently deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, which covers the Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean.

It was unclear how many Marines were being deployed to strengthen defenses at the coalition base near Makhmur.

Cardin's death was the second combat death since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve, officials told the Times. Army Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, 39, died in combat in October.

A Temecula, California native, Cardin was a field artillery Marine stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina with 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to a statement from II Marine Expeditionary Force.

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