Iraq: three rockets fall near the American embassy in Baghdad
Three rockets landed early Sunday near the US embassy in Baghdad, the Iraqi military command announced, the 19th attack on American interests in Iraq in nearly four months.
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At the same time, a rocket caused material damage in “a logistics support center of Hachd al-Chaabi”, a coalition of pro-Iran paramilitaries now integrated into the security forces, said the military command.
Its press release does not specify whether the rocket attacks on these two zones several kilometers apart, are part of the same salvo or not.
The anti-jihadist coalition led by the Americans confirmed “small rocket impacts” on Union-III, the officially Iraqi base near the American embassy where the command headquarters and many troops of the international coalition, primarily American soldiers .
Both the Iraqi military command and the coalition assure that no casualties have been identified.
Explosions around 00:30 GMT resounded in the center of Baghdad, reported an AFP journalist and sounded the alarm bells of the American embassy, according to a diplomatic source. They were followed by an aerial survey of the area, noted an AFP journalist.
Rocket attacks on US soldiers, diplomats and US installations in Iraq have increased since the end of October. They killed an American subcontractor and an Iraqi soldier.
None of the 19 attacks recorded since October 28 has been claimed, but Washington accuses the pro-Iran armed factions of being the perpetrators.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran, both Baghdad allies, escalated in late 2019 on Iraqi soil, leading to the assassination in Baghdad of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on the orders of US President Donald Trump.
The Iranians retaliated with a shower of missiles at an Iraqi base where American soldiers are stationed, wounding a hundred.
The Hachd factions, which lost their de facto leader in the raid against Soleimani, Abou Mehdi al-Mouhandis, have also since promised “revenge” against the United States.
The Iraqi parliament – where the Hashd holds the second block of deputies – has already called for the expulsion of 5,200 American soldiers from the country.
One of Iraq’s most radical pro-Iran factions, Noujaba, said on Twitter on Saturday that it “decided to start the countdown to (Iraq’s) sovereignty and the response to the US occupation forces. “.
“We are closer than you imagine,” the group again threatened, above the photo of an American tank.
