US forces conducted airstrikes on five locations belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, a Shiite militia force backed by Iran, on Sunday night.
The strikes sparked widespread condemnation from Iraq’s main political forces, who described the attack as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Some called for American forces to leave the country.
The US said the strikes were carried out as retaliation for the December 27 attack on K-1 base near Kirkuk which killed a US contractor, four American and two Iraqi soldiers.
The strikes have shifted the focus of anti-government protesters away from Iran’s interference in Iraqi to the US attacks on the militias who played a critical role in defeating the Islamic State (ISIS).
Demonstrators marched through Baghdad’s streets on Tuesday, carrying posters of the dead militiamen and Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who condemned the US strikes.
Head of Asaib ahl al-Haq Qais al-Khazali, pro-Iran Badr organization head Hadi al-Ameri and Popular Mobilization Forces leader Falih al-Fayyadh were seen amongst the protesters camped outside the embassy.
As flames rose from the blast walls of the embassy, one militiaman in military fatigue told a Rudaw reporter that they would burn the US embassy and its consulate in Erbil.
“This is a letter to Trump and the American embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil and in Basra … those who have attacked our forces and our Jihadi brothers … god willing, if this fire reaches inside of the embassy, we will not spare a single employee, we are the children of the martyrs and this is our statement, death to America,” he said.
Another said the attack on the embassy was for the “blood of martyrs”, referring to the 29 militiamen killed.
US guards inside the embassy fired tear gas and stun grenade to disperse the protesters.Today’s developments in Baghdad’s Green Zone is a very dangerous path toward transforming Iraq to a devastating war.
— MP Sarkawt Shams :النائب سەرکەوت شمس الدين (@MPSarkawtShams) December 31, 2019
Peaceful demonstrators gave 400 lives but never allowed to get into the Green Zone, how come these guys get in and reach US Embassy without any barrier?
Strikes on the militia group, whose leader Husayn Falih ‘Aziz al-Lami was sanctioned earlier this month by the US Treasury for his role in the crackdown against anti-government protesters, has divided Persian Gulf nations, with Saudi Arabia joining Bahrain in supporting the strikes while Iran has issued veiled threats against American forces stationed in Iraq. Other countries in the region have refrained from expressing views on the issue.
Since the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and re-imposed wide ranging sanctions on the country six months later, the region has been brought to the brink of a war as tension has risen with attacks on oil tankers, the downing of a US drone and attacks on Aramco oil facilities.
These attacks have pitted US allies such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE against Iran, who accuse Tehran of fomenting tension in the region by supporting proxy forces through Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC, which according to the American government acts as a Kataib Hezbollah patron, condemned the attack and said vengeance was a natural right of the Iraqi forces.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday described the US attacks as terrorism and said US must accept full responsibility for the consequences of its illegal action.
The editor of Kayhan, a state-backed, hardline newspaper in Iran, said the launch of airstrikes by President Donald Trump was playing with the lives of 5,000 American soldiers station in Iraq.
Quoting an anonymous official source on Tuesday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency described the Iran-backed militias in Iraq as terrorist.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia follows with great concerns the spike in number of terrorist attacks inside brotherly Iraq which aims at undermining its security and stability, the latest being the attacks carried out by terrorist militias supported by the Iranian establishment against the American forces present in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the terrorist Daesh,” the official source said, referring to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym.
The killing at least 29 militia members in retaliation for the attack on Kirkuk will complicate or risk the future presence of the US forces in Iraq.
Hours before the embassy came under attack, there were reports from Iraqi media on Tuesday that the American ambassador and his team have left Baghdad. Emailed requests for comments from Rudaw went unanswered.
