The Vatican has insisted that rocket attacks on a US base would not deter the Pope from making an historic visit to Iraq on Friday.

A US coalition military base came under rocket fire, five days after President Biden retaliated for a previous strike with air raids on Iranian-backed Shia militias in neighbouring Syria.

A volley of ten missiles Wednesday morning hit the Ain al-Asad base in Anbar, western Iraq. The Iraqi military and the US-led coalition, which share the base, were still assessing the damage early afternoon local time, but said a civilian contractor had died apparently of a heart attack.

“The day after tomorrow, God willing, I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage,” the Pope said in his weekly address in Rome today. “For a long time I have wanted to meet these people who have suffered so much.”

On Tuesday, Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See’s press office, said Francis may accede to the Iraqi government’s request for him to use an armoured car.