New rocket attack on US Embassy in Iraq

Several rockets were launched at the American embassy on Monday in the green high security zone of Baghdad, The Iraqi capital, according to local security sources.

At least two were within the perimeter of the green zone, where are the embassies of the United States and other countries, according to a statement of the Iraqi security services.

The attack is the third in a week targeting Western diplomatic, military or commercial installations in Iraq. after months of relative calm.

A security source told AFP that at least one rocket hit the headquarters of the Iraqi national security service near the American diplomatic mission.

Others crashed nearby residential areas, including a multi-story parking complex in the Harithiya district, detailed a witness.

The attack occurs a week after more than a dozen rockets will target a military complex at Erbil airport in northern Iraq, home to foreign troops from a US-led coalition that has been helping Iraq fight terrorists since 2014.

Two people died, including an airport-based foreign contractor and a civilian, who died of his injuries on Monday.

On Saturday another wave of rockets hit the Al-Balad Air Base north of Baghdad, where Iraq keeps most of the F-16s it has bought from the United States in recent years.

Security sources said at least one local contractor from Sallyport, the US company that maintains the planes, was injured.

Last week, after the Erbil attacks, the United States did not rule out responding to hostilities. “The President of the United States (Joe Biden) and the Administration reserve the right to respond when and in any way”, said the spokeswoman for the White House, Jen psaki, during his press conference last Tuesday.

The official stressed that the United States had not yet determined who was responsible for the attack and that until it did, it would not take possible steps to respond to it.Although he claimed that both the State Department and the Pentagon offered assistance with the investigation to the Iraqi authorities.

The attack happened barely three weeks before Pope Francis’ visit to Erbil, a relatively stable region free from the presence of Islamic State terrorists (ISIS, for its acronym in English).

Erbil airport was also attacked last September, with six missiles that caused no material damage or casualties and for which responsibility has not been determined. This Tuesday the air base remained closed, while the authorities assessed the damage, said his boss, Ahmad Hoshyar, at the AFP agency.

After what happened the UN has warned that Iraq could fall back into instability. On Twitter, the UN representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, denounced “atrocious and dangerous acts” which “constitute a serious threat to stability”.

He also called for “restraint” and cooperation in the investigation between Erbil, capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan (north), and Baghdad.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), in power in this region, accused groups “in the shadow” of Hashd al Shaabi, a coalition of paramilitaries now integrated into the Iraqi state, of being ” of the attack ”.

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al Kazimi, denounced an attack aimed at “sowing chaos” in Iraq and pledged to prevent his country from becoming a “backyard” in which regional conflicts take place.

Two intelligence sources told AFP that the rockets were launched from inside the autonomous region. The attack, meanwhile, was claimed by a little-known group calling themselves Awliyaa al Dam (“Guardians of the Blood”). Security officials said they believed it was a cover name to hide known pro-Iran factions who want coalition forces to leave the country.

Western military and diplomatic installations have been targeted by dozens of rockets in Iraq since late 2019, most of them in Baghdad. However, Iranian missiles were fired at Erbil airport in January 2020, days after Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed by an American drone strike in Baghdad, an attack that raised fears of a direct war between Iran and the United States.

With information from AFP

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