Renewed violence. Two rockets hit the Taji military base north of Baghdad again this Saturday, where two US soldiers and a Briton were killed in a similar attack on Wednesday, Iraqi and American security sources said.
Since the end of October, 23 rocket attacks have targeted American interests in Iraq, while pro-Iran armed factions regularly call for the Americans to be kicked out of the country. During the night of Thursday to Friday, American strikes killed six Iraqis, including five police officers and soldiers, in retaliation for the deadly attack on Taji.
The specter of a dangerous escalation in Iraq.
On Thursday, for the first time, Hezbollah brigades had welcomed - without claiming - the firing of 18 rockets the day before, killing two American soldiers and a British soldier. They had once again denounced "the American occupation forces".
During the night of Thursday to Friday, American retaliatory strikes took place, targeting Washington according to Hezbollah brigade bases. They killed six Iraqis, including five police and soldiers and one civilian, according to the Iraqi army. It is very rare for such attacks to occur in broad daylight like that of Saturday.
This cycle of violence is once again raising the specter of a dangerous escalation in Iraq. At the end of 2019, rocket fire that killed an American degenerated and led to the assassination in January by Washington of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his lieutenant in Baghdad, as well as to Iranian missile shots at a base sheltering Americans in Iraq.
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Iraq: US military conducts reprisals against pro-Iranian positions
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