AIR DEFENCES INTERCEPT ROCKETS FIRED AT US EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD
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By ‘Sefiu Ajape
Air defence systems intercepted rockets fired toward the US embassy in Baghdad, security sources told AFP.
It is the first such attack on the embassy in the Iraqi capital since the outbreak of the Middle East war triggered by a joint US-Israeli strike on Iran, a conflict that has drawn Iraq into its wider fallout.
Loud explosions were heard on Saturday night in Baghdad, AFP journalists reported, while a witness near the heavily fortified Green Zone—which houses the US embassy—said air defence systems were activated over the area.
“Four rockets were launched… toward the embassy,” a security official said, adding that air defences intercepted three, while one landed in an open area within the embassy’s airbase.
Two other security sources confirmed the attack, with one stating that all rockets were downed, including the one that fell inside the airbase.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered security forces to identify those responsible for what he described as “the terrorist act” against the US embassy.
He said that “targeting diplomatic missions and embassies operating in Iraq is an act that cannot be justified or accepted under any circumstances.”
Iraq, which has long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, had previously stated that it did not want to be drawn into the escalating regional conflict. However, it has not escaped the impact of the crisis.
From the start of the war, strikes attributed to the United States and Israel have targeted Iran-backed groups, which have since claimed responsibility for attacks on US bases in Iraq and across the region.
Drone and rocket attacks have also targeted Baghdad International Airport, which hosts a military base and a US diplomatic facility, as well as oil fields and energy infrastructure.
The northern autonomous Kurdistan region, where US troops are stationed, has also been repeatedly targeted by drone attacks, most of which have been intercepted.
Late on Saturday, an AFP journalist in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, reported hearing the sound of a drone followed by at least three loud explosions. The city hosts a major US consulate complex.
Airstrikes
Also on Saturday, airstrikes hit military bases belonging to the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, according to the government’s security media cell.
One fighter was killed while three others were wounded.
The Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), is a coalition of armed factions that have since been integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces. The alliance includes several Iran-backed groups that are known for occasionally acting independently.
Bases linked to the group have been struck several times since the outbreak of the regional conflict.
The group’s media cell said Saturday’s strikes were carried out by “unidentified aircraft,” but a PMF official told AFP that “an airstrike, likely American, hit a Hashed base” near the city of Mosul.
Kurdish militants
Iraq’s Kurdistan region also hosts camps and rear bases used by several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which Iran has repeatedly targeted since the war began.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they had struck “separatist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan after Tehran warned it could target “all the facilities” in the region if militants were allowed to enter the Islamic republic.
So far, Iraq’s border guards said no armed groups have crossed into Iran.
The Iraqi government and the Kurdistan regional authorities said on Friday that Iraq must not become a launchpad for attacks against neighbouring countries.
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