Two Almost Simultaneous Attacks on US Interests in Iraq

Two attacks almost simultaneously targeted Baghdad’s ultra-secure "green zone" and an Iraqi air base sheltering American soldiers north of the capital, on the evening of Saturday, January 4, security officials said.

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Two mortar shells fell in the area where the United States Embassy is located. The diplomatic representation had already been attacked on Tuesday by thousands of fighters and supporters of pro-Iran in Iraq.

At the same time, less than a hundred kilometers further north, two Katyusha rockets landed on Balad air base, a huge Iraqi base that receives American soldiers and planes.

According to the Iraqi military command, there were no casualties in the two attacks.

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Calls for "revenge"

Immediately after the shooting, American drones flew over the base for reconnaissance missions, the sources added.

Later that evening, Hezbollah brigades, the most radical pro-Tehran faction of Iraqi Hashd Al-Chaabi, called on Iraqi security forces to withdraw "At least 1,000 meters" from their bases housing American soldiers as of Sunday evening.

The United States deployed additional soldiers this week to protect its diplomats and soldiers in Iraq where anti-American sentiment, fueled by pro-Iran, flared up with the assassination on Friday of a drone strike by powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani and Iranian man in Baghdad Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes in the capital.

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Calls to the " revenge " are increasing in Baghdad as in Tehran, while the United States has for several months already considered that the pro-Iran armed factions in Iraq are a more dangerous threat for them than the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group.

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Since the end of October, thirteen rocket attacks have targeted American interests in Iraq, even killing an American subcontractor on October 27 at a base in the country's oil center. None have been claimed, but Washington accuses the pro-Iran factions of Hachd Al-Chaabi – a coalition of state-integrated paramilitaries – of being responsible.

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