According to the security sources, a day after Iran fired ballistic missiles on US airbases in Iraq, two rockets crashed late Wednesday into the Iraq capital Baghdad’s Green Zone, the high-security enclave where foreign embassies including the US mission and government buildings are stationed.
A day after Iran’s missile Attack
AFP correspondents in Baghdad heard two loud blasts followed by the wailing security sirens of the Green Zone, just before midnight. As per reports, at least one of the rockets crashed 100 metres away from the US embassy. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The attack came nearly 24 hours after Tehran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi airbases housing American and other coalition forces, which did not cause casualties.
The missile strikes were in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a US drone strike last week.
Muhandis had been the deputy head of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a web of armed groups incorporated into the Iraqi state but which also have close ties to Tehran.
The United States had accused Hashed groups of being behind a string of rocket attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad and bases hosting American troops across the country. Meanwhile, the Hashed’s hardline factions vowed on Wednesday that they too would take revenge for the US raid.
Paramilitary chief Qais al-Khazali blacklisted as a “terrorist” by the US who said that Iraq’s response to the US “will be no less than the size of the Iranian response.”
Harakat al-Nujaba, a hardline Hashed faction, vowed to avenge Muhandis. It said, “To American soldiers: Do not close your eyes. Revenge for the martyr Muhandis is coming at the hands of Iraqis — until the last soldier among you leaves.”
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