Two rockets attacked US diplomatic and military facilities overnight, Iraqi security forces said Sunday, when a powerful Iranian-backed armed group denied responsibility for a series of such attacks.
Since October, US diplomats and troops across Iraq have been the target of approximately three dozen rocket attacks that Washington attributed to pro-Iranian armed factions.
In the first such move, elite Iraqi troops in late June arrested more than a dozen Tehran-backed fighters who were allegedly planning a new attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone, home of the United States and other embassies. foreign.
Iraqi government officials said the raid would serve as a “message” to deter future attacks, but more attacks were launched late Saturday.
According to the Iraqi military, a rocket fired into the Green Zone fell near a house and injured a boy.
The rocket was launched from the Ali al-Saleh area of Baghdad and landed next to a house near a local television channel, according to a military statement. The boy suffered head injuries and the house was damaged.
“At the same time, our forces were able to thwart another attack and take a Katyusha rocket and launcher targeting the Taji base north of Baghdad,” where the troops of the US-led coalition are located, he added.
In March, two Americans and a British soldier were killed after a rain of rockets in the Taji camp.
The latest spike in the attacks comes shortly before Iraq embarks on strategic talks with the United States, in which the presence of US forces in the country is expected to top the agenda.
New defense system
The attempts came just hours after the US embassy tested a new rocket defense system known as C-RAM, according to a senior Iraqi security source.
The C-RAM, created earlier this year at the embassy, searches for incoming projectiles and explodes them in midair with thousands of shots per minute.
A series of silenced explosions could be heard in Baghdad on Saturday night when the system was apparently tested, leaving passers-by confused and the Iraqi parliament outraged.
Vice President Hassan al-Kaabi called the trial “provocative” and “unacceptable” as it could endanger residential areas.
Al-Kaabi called on the government to take action against the “illegal” measure that “would provoke the Iraqi people,” according to a statement.
There were no immediate comments from the US embassy about whether the system was used against the rocket overnight.
United States ‘applauds’ arrests
Iraq has long been caught in a tug-of-war between its two main allies, Iran and the United States, arch-enemies whose relations have further crumbled since Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.
Baghdad carefully balances its ties with the two countries, but the repeated launch of rockets risks shaking its tightrope.
The United States attributes the attacks to Kataib Hezbollah, a faction backed by Tehran within Iraq’s state-sponsored network of armed units known as the Hashd al-Shaabi (the Popular Mobilization Forces or PMF).
Washington has demanded that the Iraqi authorities be tougher on the group. Local forces had long hesitated, fearing that direct action against such a powerful actor would risk broader confrontations.
But last month, state security forces carried out the first such incursion against a Kataib Hezbollah base on the edge of Baghdad, seized rockets, and arrested 14 fighters who allegedly planned an attack on the Green Zone.
The move was hailed by United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said that armed groups are “the biggest obstacle to additional assistance or economic investment” for Iraq.
But within days, all but one of the fighters were released and some were seen burning American and Israeli flags and stepping on photos of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Al-Kadhimi has repeatedly promised to end missile fire, and the continued attacks are seen as a challenge to his authority.
‘Agent of the Americans’
Kataib Hezbollah is highly suspicious of al-Kadhimi, accusing him of complicity in the US murder of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Hashd’s deputy chief in a January drone attack in Baghdad.
“The prime minister has totally failed and he has to understand that if he trusts the Americans instead of the Iraqi people, he will fail,” Mohammed Mohie, a spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera.
“If you continue in this way, you will show your cards as an agent of the Americans and who serve Americans more than their homeland.”
The armed group began fighting US troops in 2003 after the US-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
According to paramilitary expert Michael Knights, he is the best-armed Iraqi ally of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Washington has designated a “terrorist” group.
Al Jazeera gained exclusive access to one of its military bases in southern Baghdad after it was attacked by Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces.
Kataib Hezbollah members said the raid was illegal as it was carried out without an arrest warrant.
“If they have evidence of this accusation, they can show it to people, but there are no missiles or launch pads here.” one member said on condition of anonymity.
“This base has been here since 2015 and we have a formal letter from the Baghdad Operations Command. This base is used for logistical support.”
.
