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Baghdad – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the Iranian-backed militias of carrying out the missile attacks that targeted the US embassy in Baghdad, noting that they are the biggest obstacle to peace and peace. prosperity in Iraq.
“Once again, Iranian-backed militias brazenly and recklessly attack areas in Baghdad, injuring Iraqi civilians,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“The same militias that attack diplomatic facilities are stealing the resources of the Iraqi state on a large scale, attacking peaceful protesters and activists and engaging in sectarian violence,” he stressed.
The US Secretary of State called on Iraqis to support his government’s efforts to consolidate sovereignty against pro-Iranian militias, bring those responsible for these heinous attacks to justice, and ensure state control over all supported factions. by Iran.
US officials blame Iranian-backed militias for the missile attacks on US facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy in Baghdad. No Iran-backed group has claimed responsibility.
This attack is the latest in a series of attacks near the US embassy compound and comes amid growing tension between Iran and the US less than a month before the departure of outgoing US President Donald Trump. , to the White House.
The attack also comes amid Iraqi and Iranian preparations to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy head of the Iraqi People’s Mobilization Authority, Abu Mahdi. al-Muhandis, in a US raid with a drone on January 3.
The Iraqi arena has turned into an indirect arena of warfare, as Washington accuses Iraqi militias loyal to Iran of launching attacks against its forces and interests in Iraq.
The commander of US forces in the Middle East, General Frank MacKenzie, said during a tour of the region on Sunday that his country was “ready to respond” if Iran attacked him on the first anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.
“We are ready to defend ourselves and our friends and allies in the region, and we are ready to respond if necessary,” said the commander of the United States Central Command (Santecom).
“I see that we are in a very good position and that we will be prepared, whatever the Iranians and their allies decide to do,” he added by phone from an unspecified location in the region.
The Iraqi military and the U.S. embassy in Baghdad announced Sunday night that at least eight Katyusha rockets landed on the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital in an attack on the U.S. embassy, causing minor damage to the complex.
The military said an “outside the law” group fired eight missiles, adding in a statement that “most of the rockets hit a residential complex and a security checkpoint within the area, causing damage to buildings and cars. and wounding an Iraqi soldier. “
Washington, which is gradually reducing its 5,000 troops in Iraq, has threatened to close its embassy unless the Iraqi government restrains factions aligned with Iran.
In the east of the Iraqi capital, at least five explosions were heard, followed by sirens. Moments later, successive shots were heard and columns of red glow were seen lighting up the sky over the area, indicating that the US embassy’s C-RAM missile defense system had been activated.
Iraqi security forces issued a statement saying the attack caused property damage but no casualties. A security source said three missiles landed near the headquarters of the US diplomatic mission, while two other missiles hit separate residential neighborhoods.
An Iraqi man living in a fortified apartment complex at the other end of the street where the embassy is located said his building was damaged and added, without revealing his identity: “Everyone is crying and screaming. My wife lost her temper for everyone. those horrible sounds. “
The US embassy and other foreign military and diplomatic sites have been targeted by dozens of rockets and explosive devices since fall 2019.
Western and Iraqi officials blamed militant groups, including the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, loyal to Iran.
In October, these groups agreed to an open truce, but Sunday’s attack appears to be their third offense.
The first occurred on November 17 and a barrage of missiles fell on the US embassy and different points of the Iraqi capital, killing a woman.
On December 10, two convoys carrying logistics equipment to the US-led coalition to assist Iraqi forces in the fight against the jihadists were attacked with improvised explosive devices.
Groups that US and Iraqi officials consider a front for known armed factions allied with Iran claimed responsibility for the attacks, but in an unusual measure, several factions condemned Sunday’s attack.
“No one has the right to use weapons outside the framework of the state,” Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Twitter. Even the Hezbollah Brigades, a group that has been held responsible for other attacks, issued a statement on the Internet in which they affirm that “the bombing of the Embassy of Evil at this time is an uncontrolled act, and the competent authorities must follow the perpetrators and arrest them. We condemn the indiscriminate firing of the military barracks against the embassy for the threat it causes. ” Real civil life “.
