Iraq: rocket attack on the US Embassy

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During the night of Monday May 18 to Tuesday May 19, a rocket landed near the American Embassy located in the ultra-secure "green zone" of Baghdad, security sources told AFP.

Publicity

"  The rocket caused material damage without causing any casualties,  " an official from the Iraqi security services told AFP. The attack has not been claimed as any that targeted American interests, but the United States routinely accuses Iraqi pro-Iran factions of being behind the gunfire. This latest attack on American interests in Iraq is the 28th of its kind in seven months in the country that has just created a new government, which is said to be capable of warming relations with Washington, at its lowest level in recent months.

"  Expelled  "

On Sunday May 17, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the United States would be “  expelled  ” from Iraq and Syria, two countries where Iran has continued to extend its influence through its political allies and paramilitary. Iran and its allies in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East will also celebrate "Al-Quds Day" (Jerusalem in Arabic) on Friday, marked annually since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, on the last Friday of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, in favor of the return of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

These parades are generally an opportunity to conspire Israel and with it its American ally. The new Iraqi government, led by former intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kazimi , is seen as an American-Iranian cabinet of compromise, after months of tensions that almost degenerated into open war in the country after Washington assassinated in early January at the gates of Baghdad airport General Qassem Soleimani , architect of Iranian strategy in the Middle East.

While attacks on American interests have become scarcer in recent weeks, they remain a major concern for Washington, which has hundreds of diplomats on Iraqi soil, as well as 5,200 soldiers, targeted by an expulsion order from Parliament so far never implemented by the government in Baghdad.

Delegation

Next June, Washington will send a delegation to the Iraqi capital to renegotiate its presence and partnerships with Iraq, to ​​which it has just granted its longest exemption from sanctions against Iran, four months during which Baghdad will be able to provide electricity to its 40 million inhabitants while escaping the retaliatory measures planned by Washington for anyone who trades with Tehran.

( with AFP )

Read also: Iraq: "It is very unlikely that this new government will make a difference"

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