Iraq: the anti-missile system of the American embassy intercepted a drone with rockets

US forces shot down an armed drone on Monday who flew over his embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, security sources announced hours after a new rocket attack on a base of American soldiers in western Iraq.

In the night U.S. C-RAM defense systems are in action, according to the agency AFP, while Iraqi security sources said they intercepted the drone, a new modality of attack used by Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.

The C-RAM anti-missile system intercepted and destroyed three rockets of type katiusha that they were directed against American installations.

So far this year in Iraq there has been 47 attacks against the interests of the United States, which has 2,500 troops there as part of a international coalition fight against the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS).

Six of the attacks were carried out with drones, a technique that began to be used in Iraq in April and has been a puzzle for the coalition, as the devices can Escape the C-RAM defense batteries.

Neither attack has been claimed, but the modus operandi it bears the mark of pro-Iranian groups using drones in Yemen to attack Saudi forces.

The pro-Iranian paramilitary coalition Hachd al–Chaâbi, a major force in Iraq, regularly welcomes rocket fire and drone strikes against US installations in Iraq, but he never claimed responsibility.

On Monday, three rockets were fired at Iraqi Ain Al Asad air base, in the west of the country, which shelters American soldiers, causing no casualties, said the anti-jihadist coalition.

The new attacks come a week later American forces bombard positions of Hashd al-Chaabi in Syria e Iraq, where they killed a dozen of the combatants.

According to the Pentagon, the US bombings targeted positions of Kataeb Said al Shuhadá and Kataeb Hizbulá, pro-Iranian militias operating in Iraq within the armed group Popular crowd and that they are considered terrorist organizations by Washington.

The attack was described by Joe Biden’s administration as “necessary“in order to”limit the risk of escalation“With the groups of this sign, who later swore revenge for the deaths of their fighters.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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