New episode of tensions in Iraq, between Iran and the United States, in a country caught between its two allies: three rockets were fired, on the night of Thursday 22 to Friday 23 April, at the airport of Baghdad where American soldiers are posted.
The projectiles hit the section of the air base occupied by Iraqi troops – who share space with soldiers deployed by Washington as part of the anti-jihadist coalition – an official told Agence France-Presse (AFP). security services on condition of anonymity. An Iraqi soldier was injured, he added.
This is the second rocket attack targeting the Americans in less than a week: Sunday, five rockets had targeted another air base north of Baghdad, wounding three Iraqi soldiers and two foreign contractors. The attack was not immediately claimed, but Washington regularly accuses Iraqi armed groups close to Iran, the enemy of the United States, of targeting its troops and diplomats in Iraq.
A new level
In total, around twenty bomb or rocket attacks have targeted bases housing American soldiers or American diplomatic representations since Joe Biden came to power at the end of January. And dozens more have taken place since fall 2019 under Donald Trump’s administration.
In mid-April, the attacks reached a new level: for the first time pro-Iran Iraqi factions carried out a suicide drone attack on an American headquarters at Erbil airport, in Iraqi Kurdistan (North). And this in the midst of tensions between Washington and Tehran around the issue of Iranian nuclear power. During the attacks carried out over the past year, two foreign contractors, an Iraqi contractor and eight Iraqi civilians were killed.
These shots are sometimes claimed by obscure groups, in reality the false noses of pro-Iran armed groups present for a long time in the country, say the experts, citing the speeches of their leaders who regularly threaten to “Hit more often and harder” the 2,500 American soldiers still stationed in Iraq.
“Strategic dialogue”
On April 7, Washington and Baghdad resumed their “Strategic dialogue” which must give birth to a timetable for the withdrawal of the international coalition that came to fight the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in 2014. If the two parties ensure that they agree in principle, its implementation could however take years, assure officials on both sides.
Sworn enemies, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States both have a presence or allies in Iraq. Iran has among others the support of Hachd Al-Chaabi, a coalition of paramilitary groups integrated into the state. The Iraqi government of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, which passes for more pro-American than its predecessor, is regularly threatened by the pro-Iran. With each deadly attack, Washington promises to make Iran pay a heavy price.
In January 2020, such a spiral almost escalated into open conflict in Iraq, after an American drone killed the powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani in Baghdad, in response to the deaths of Americans in Iraq.
