Activists on social media circulated a video clip showing the escape of Colonel Miles Caggins, a spokesman for the international coalition forces to fight ISIS, from a television interview yesterday evening when a missile fell in the vicinity of the "Green Zone" in central Baghdad, which includes the buildings of the US embassy and the rest of foreign diplomatic missions.
The American spokesman appeared to flee from the interview with the Iraqi "Al-Change" channel and flee to a safe place as soon as he heard the warning siren of the American embassy in the Green Zone.
Later in the interview, the announcer returned to Colonel Caggins, and asked him about the nature of the event, as he confirmed that when he heard the sirens he went to take cover in a safe place.
An Iraqi security source said on Tuesday evening that a Katyusha missile attack targeted the "Green Zone" in Baghdad.
An Iraqi security source said that the missile landed around one of the gates of the Green Zone, without causing any casualties or material losses, according to preliminary information.
Colonel Cagens' escape from a TV interview during the sound of the siren at the US embassy in Baghdad pic.twitter.com/dK9hi3n6lK
- Shams Duji (@ v1Cb5exZvqD4Zw1) August 12, 2020
The attack comes hours after an explosive device attack targeted a convoy of American forces in the Taji area, north of Baghdad.
Armed factions, including the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, had threatened to target US forces and interests in Iraq if they did not withdraw in compliance with the parliament’s decision to end the military presence.
On January 5, the Iraqi parliament voted by majority to end the foreign military presence, days after the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, accompanied by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, was killed in an American air strike near Baghdad International Airport.