It is an outbreak of violence that makes an escalation between Iraq’s two great allies, the United States and Iran, more than ever. The unprecedented attack on Tuesday, December 31, of pro-Iranian protesters in the Baghdad Green Zone, home to the US Embassy and key Iraqi state institutions, is now over. But the damage is still visible.
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Deployment of elite units
Elite Iraqi units were deployed on Thursday, January 2, to strengthen security at the embassy. A dozen armored vehicles of Iraqi elite counterterrorism units took place on the roads leading to the embassy and to the chancellery, according to correspondents from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) there. The vestibule where embassy security usually filters visitors is still ripped open, its walls burned down and its windows armored in a thousand pieces. Pro-Iran graffiti is still visible on the walls of the representation of the United States, Iran’s enemy.
But cranes are busy carrying debris and clearing stones and other projectiles that supporters and fighters of the pro-Iranian Iraqi paramilitary coalition of Hashd Al-Chaab threw at the embassy on Tuesday and Wednesday. Violence aimed at denouncing the deadly American air raids against a pro-Iranian Iraqi armed faction last Sunday.
Washington expects new attacks
For its part, the United States says it expects new attacks in Iraq by Iranian allied paramilitaries who "Will probably regret it", Pentagon chief Mark Esper said on Thursday:
"There have been provocations for months (…) We are ready to defend ourselves and we are ready to prevent new unhealthy behavior from these groups, all of which are sponsored, led and funded by Iran. "
If the United States hears of new attacks in preparation, "We will also take preventive measures to protect American forces, to protect American lives". The Chief of the General Staff, General Mark Milley, said the American embassy in Baghdad was well protected.
President Donald Trump has threatened to charge the "High price" to Iran accused of having "Orchestrated" the attack.
An attack that makes one forget the street challenge against the government
This attack carried out on Tuesday by supporters and fighters of the coalition of Iraqi pro-Iranian paramilitaries of Hachd Al-Chaabi should not make us forget the 'Revolution' against the power deemed corrupt and incompetent and against Iran’s hold on Iraq, plead the thousands of Iraqis still on the street.
Since 1st October, the Iraqis demand the departure of the political class, in power for sixteen years, and the end of the political system set up by Washington during its occupation of the country from 2003 to 2011, and which is now drowned by the great Iranian neighbor .
"What happened at the American embassy is an attempt to look away from popular protests, said Ahmed Mohammed Ali, a protester in Nassiriya (South). But we, we stay, we demonstrate for change and we hope to win. "
In the same city, two activists were targeted in assassination attempts, police said. This bullying campaign is led by "Militias" according to the United Nations (UN). Several activists have been killed, dozens arrested and hundreds threatened.
The revolt was marked by violence which has made since 1st October nearly 460 dead and 25,000 injured, most protesters, according to medical and police sources.
This rebellion, unprecedented because of spontaneous reasons, led the government of Adel Abdel Mahdi to resign at the end of November. But the latter has still not been replaced despite deadlines theoretically imposed by the Constitution. And the President of the Republic, Barham Saleh, has threatened to resign if Iraqi pro-Iran officials persist in presenting him with rejected candidates in the street.
The embassy attack exposed Iran’s infiltration into Iraq’s political and especially security apparatus. The American raids were carried out in western Iraq against bases of the Hezbollah brigades, a faction of Hachd Al-Chaabi accused by Washington of being behind the rocket attacks which killed on December 27 an American subcontractor in a base in Iraq.
