ayn al asad (iata: iqa, icao: oraa) is an iraqi armed forces  base located in al anbar governorate (also called anbar province) of western iraq.it was originally known as qadisiyah airbase.it was the second largest us military airbase in iraq during operation iraqi freedom.until january 2010, it was the home of the ii marine expeditionary force/multi-national force west.other major tenants have included the 3rd id's 4th ibct, 82nd airborne division advise & assist brigade, 332nd medical brigade, 321st sustainment brigade, vertical onboard delivery detachment-1 (vod-1), vaq-141, navy customs battalion juliet, elements of the iraqi army's 7th division, and the united states air force (usaf).on december 26, 2018, president donald trump and his wife melania visited the soldiers stationed at the base.on november 23, 2019, vice president mike pence and his wife karen, visited the troops ahead of thanksgiving.on january 8, 2020, the air base came under an iranian ballistic missile attack in retaliation for the killing of quds leader qasem soleimani in a u.s. drone strike a few days earlier.the airbase is divided by wādī al asadī (وادي الاسدي), a wadi whose course passes through the oasis along the base's western edge and then continues eastward, emptying into the euphrates river at khan al baghdadi.this oasis is locally referred to as 'abraham's well'.the ‘ayn al asad spring surfaces within the base and flows into the wādī al asadī.geologically, the base resides in the al-ḥammād sector of the syrian desert, composed mostly of a rock and gravel steppe.qadisiyah ab was one of five new air bases built in iraq as part of their project 'super-base', launched in 1975 as a response to the lessons learned during the arab-israeli wars of 1967 and 1973.the base was built sometime between 1981 and 1987 by a consortium of yugoslavian companies under contract to the government of iraq.two yugoslav government agencies led the project.the fdsp (federal directorate of supply and procurement) acted as the project manager and aeroengineering acted as the project engineer.known as 'project 202-b' and 'project 1100', the companies involved in its construction included granit, vranica d.d.sarajevo, i.l.lavčević d.d.split, and unioninvest d.d.sarajevo.the us$280,000,000 project at qadisiyah ab included accommodation for 5,000 personnel and the necessary infrastructure including public facilities (mosques, outdoor and indoor olympic swimming pool, football field, sports hall, cinema, library, elementary school, high school, hospital and clinic) and fortified military facilities (military airport, shelters for personnel and equipment, shelters for bombers and fighters and military barracks).the hardened aircraft shelters built here and throughout iraq by the yugoslavs were nicknamed 'yugos'.at the time they were considered state of the art but were rendered obsolete in 1991 after the development of the gbu-28 laser-guided bunker-buster bomb.prior to the 2003 us-led invasion of iraq, the base housed three units of the iraqi air force, which flew mig-25s and mig-21s.it was abandoned shortly after the start of the invasion.it was initially known as objective webster, and then eventually was renamed al asad airbase, which means 'the lion' in arabic.the 3rd acr was relieved by the marines of the 1st marine expeditionary force in march 2004.al asad became the largest u.s. base in western iraq and the western equivalent of baghdad's green zone.al asad was a major convoy hub, hosting hundreds of fuel and supply trucks every day.huge shipments of fuel were commonly run along the dangerous routes coming out of jordan and, despite insurgent attempts, a majority of these convoys arrived at their destinations untouched.a single convoy operation would sometimes last a couple days with trucks on the road for over 8 hours a day.
al asad airbase | location | iraq <tsp> al asad airbase | runwaylength | 307848
ayn al asad (iata: iqa, icao: oraa) is an iraqi armed forces  base located in al anbar governorate (also called anbar province) of western iraq.it was the second largest us military airbase in iraq during operation iraqi freedom.al asad became the largest u.s. base in western iraq and the western equivalent of baghdad's green zone.