US authorities told Reuters that missiles believed to have been fired by Iranian-aligned militias at a US air base in a gas field in Syria did not hit the facility.

An Iran-backed militia fired six shells at the US air base at the gas field in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province, a security source told Reuters on Tuesday.

All the shells landed near the air base, the source added.

Since the recent flare-up of tensions between Israel and Iran, attacks by Iranian-allied militias on US bases in Syria and Iraq have increased.

Last week, at least five US soldiers were injured in a rocket attack on an air base in western Iraq. At the same time, tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate and the region is bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for Israel’s killing of a Hamas leader on Iranian soil.

Iran has vowed retaliation for Israel’s alleged assassination of Hamas politician Ismail Haniyeh and fears of an imminent Iranian attack on Israel are growing.

The United States is appealing to its allies who also have relations with Iran to persuade them not to escalate tensions in the Middle East, US Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake said earlier this week.

Iran on Tuesday rejected calls from major European powers to refrain from an attack.

Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said: “Tehran insists on its right to respond to the assassination of Hamas chief Haniyeh and senior Lebanese Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr,” Iranian media reported.

Oil prices rose early Wednesday, partly due to ongoing concerns about a possible direct war between Iran and Israel.

Crude oil prices were also supported by an industry report that showed another weekly decline in US commercial inventories and a smaller-than-expected increase in producer prices, fuelling hopes for a rate cut.

The American Petroleum Institute reported an estimated 5 million barrel decline in oil inventories last week, following a modest increase the week before. The EIA is due to release inventory figures later today.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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