ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Multiple Katyusha rockets landed inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in the early hours of Sunday, with at least one falling inside the a military facility hosting US-led coalition troops near the American embassy.
The Green Zone is home to several Iraqi government buildings and western diplomatic missions. Forward Operating Base (FOB) Union III, also known as Al-Tawheed Al-Thalith, was hit in the attack.
The Union III base is the main headquarters of the coalition and Iraqi forces in their campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS). Most of the commanders of the coalition from several different countries are stationed there to plan and implement the fight against the jihadist group.
“Multiple rockets landed inside the Green Zone area that house the US embassy,” a US official confirmed to Rudaw on Sunday. “One rocket landed inside the Union III base that hosts coalition troops.”
In a tweet on Sunday, coalition spokesperson Colonel Myles B. Caggins III confirmed “small rockets impacted” the Union III base.
Following months of heightened tensions between the US and Iraq’s influential neighbour Iran, rocket attacks on US infrastructure and personnel in the Green Zone and elsewhere in Iraq have become increasingly frequent.
Last month, a barrage of rockets was fired at the sprawling US diplomatic mission, hitting an embassy cafeteria and injuring a staffer. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone call with Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi following the incident to express US outrage and demand action.
US officials blame Iran-backed Iraqi militias for the attacks.
The Iraqi Security Media Cell tweeted on Sunday three Katyusha rockets landed inside the Green Zone, while another rocket targeted the logistical support office of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi.
The PMF office suffered material damage but nobody was hurt, the Security Media Cell said.
Sunday’s attack follows months of growing tensions between the US and Iran, which have spilled over onto Iraqi territory. Baghdad enjoys close affiliations with both countries and has struggled to balance the relationship.
On December 27 of last year, a rocket attack on the K-1 military base in Kirkuk, widely blamed on the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, killed a US civilian contractor and injured additional personnel.
The US responded with airstrikes on Kataib Hezbollah targets on December 29, killing 25 of the militia’s fighters. A few days later, supporters of Kataib Hezbollah stormed the US embassy in Baghdad.
Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were then assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad airport on January 3. Iran retaliated by firing two dozen ballistic missiles at bases hosting US troops in Iraq.
Akram al-Kaabi, head of the Iran-backed Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba militia, said in a Friday speech in Iran that the “zero-hour” has already passed in the struggle to expel US troops from Iraq.
In a tweet on Saturday, al-Nujaba’s spokesperson Nasr al-Shammari said an operation against US troops in Iraq will soon begin and called on “internal and external partners to stay away and do not interfere”.
The presence of US troops in Iraq has always been contentious for Shiite political parties and Iran-backed Shiite paramilitias. Following the US drone strike on Baghdad airport, Shiite blocs in the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution on January 5 urging the government to expel US forces from Iraq. The US has refused to leave.
There are roughly 5,000 US troops stationed in Iraq alongside several NATO forces advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIS remnants.
Iraq is now trying to reach a new deal with coalition forces whereby foreign troops would remain in Iraq, but under the name of NATO. Their role would be limited to training and advising, meaning they would no longer be permitted to carry out ground operations.
