Two attacks almost simultaneously targeted Saturday night the ultra-secure Baghdad Green Zone and an Iraqi air base housing American soldiers north of the capital, security officials said. Two mortar shells fell in the Baghdad Green Zone, home to the US Embassy attacked on Tuesday by thousands of fighters and pro-Iran supporters in Iraq, Iraqi and Green Zone security officials said.
At the same time, less than a hundred kilometers further north, two Katyusha rockets landed on Balad air base, a huge Iraqi base that receives American soldiers and planes, security sources said on the spot. . According to the Iraqi military command, there were no casualties in the two attacks. Immediately after these shots, American drones flew over the base for reconnaissance missions, added these sources.
13 rocket attacks since October
The United States deployed additional soldiers this week to protect its diplomats and soldiers in Iraq where anti-American sentiment, fueled by pro-Iran, flared up with the assassination on Friday in a drone strike by the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iranian man in Baghdad Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis in Baghdad.
Calls for "revenge" are increasing in Baghdad as in Tehran, while the Americans consider for several months already that the pro-Iran armed factions in Iraq are a more dangerous threat for them than the jihadists of the Islamic State group (IS) . Since the end of October, thirteen rocket attacks have targeted American interests in Iraq. None have been claimed, but Washington accuses the pro-Iran factions of Hachd al-Chaabi - a coalition of state-integrated paramilitaries - of being responsible.
World
Iraq: New US air raid targets Hashd commander
World
Tensions Iran - USA: At the funeral of Soleimani, thousands of Iraqis shout "Death to America"
- United States
- Iraq
- World