Rockets land in Baghdad’s Green Zone as militias seek ‘revenge’ on US
Three rockets fell on Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, as part of an escalation in attacks on US interests in Iraq.
The Iraqi Security Media Cell blamed “outlaws” for the attacks, which injured two American personnel.
“The first rocket landed near the headquarters of the National Security Agency, the second in the Grand Festivities Square and another rocket landed near Sheikh Omar area in a residential neighbourhood,” said an Iraqi security spokesman.
US Army spokesman Col Wayne Marotto said the attacks “undermine the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi national sovereignty”.
Ain Al Asad military base in Iraq’s Anbar province and an oilfield in eastern Syria have been attacked by rockets and drones in recent days.
No armed groups have claimed responsibility, but experts say Iran-aligned militias could be behind them.
Commander of Kataib Sayyid Al Shuhada, Abu Alaa Al Walae, vowed to retaliate after four Iran-backed Iraqi militia group members were killed by US strikes on the Iraqi-Syrian border last month.
The Pentagon said the bases the US struck were used by Iran-backed militia to support strikes in Iraq.
Mr Al Walae told AP on Wednesday that his group’s operations would have “everyone” talking about them.
“We want an operation that befits those martyrs,” he said.
“We want it to be an operation in which everyone says they have taken revenge on the Americans.”
Bases housing US troops and personnel have been fired upon almost daily, but the group has not claimed responsibility.
On Tuesday, the Al Omar oilfield in Syria’s eastern border with Iraq was a target.
The US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces who guard it said they thwarted the attack on Syria’s largest oilfield, which was not damaged.
The oilfield was also fired at some 10 days ago, but US troops stationed there were uninjured.
On Wednesday, Al Asad Airbase and Erbil airport, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, were targets of what Yehia Rasool, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, called “terrorist attacks”. He said Iraq refused to be used as a battleground for a “proxy war” between US and Iranian forces.
A lorry carrying a rocket launcher found near the Al Asad base is believed to have been used to fire 14 rockets.
Hours later, three rockets were fired at the US embassy in Iraq’s capital, prompting sirens to blare in warning in Baghdad’s Green Zone, which hosts government buildings and embassies.
The embassy itself was not hit, the Iraqi military said, but three other locations in the fortified area were.
Associate fellow at the Washington Institute, Hamdi Malik, called recent events part of a “co-ordinated escalation” by Iran-backed militias.
He said it was the first time that targets in Syria and Iraq had been hit simultaneously.
Talks to bring the US and Iran back into the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled, after officials in Tehran had said they were expecting to have positive results by the time the country elected a new president.
Cleric Ebrahim Raisi won the vote in June.
“It seems to me they have the green light from Iran to escalate, especially given that the nuclear negotiations are not going well,” Mr Malik said.
“But at the same time, they do not want to escalate beyond a certain point ... and they don’t want to overcomplicate the negotiations Iran is holding with the West.”
Iran-backed militias are heavily concentrated west of the Euphrates in Deir Ezzor province. Hundreds of US troops remain in the vicinity of Syria’s main oilfields, which are controlled by US-backed forces.