Multiple rockets launched by an "outlaw group" fell inside al-Qadisiyah residential complex near the United States Embassy, causing material damage to buildings, the US Embassy compound, and a number of civilian vehicles, but without reports of casualties, the cell said in a tweet.
The rockets were launched from al-Rasheed military camp area, a former Iraqi Military Intelligence base located on the southern outskirts of Baghdad.
The United States Embassy in Baghdad confirmed the attack, stating that there were some “minor damages” to the Embassy compound, but no casualties.
“These sorts of attacks on diplomatic facilities are a violation of international law and are a direct assault on the sovereignty of the Iraqi government,” the embassy stated, calling on Iraq’s leaders to take steps to prevent these attacks and hold the perpetrators responsible.
Influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on the government to declare a state of emergency to protect civilians and diplomatic missions. In a tweet he said that "no one has the right to use weapons outside the jurisdiction of the state," and anyone who does so is either “a terrorist or outside of the Sharia [Islamic law] and the law.”
Sadr also condemned American influence in Iraq, urging the Iraqi parliament to negotiate with the US embassy in order to put an end to its "occupation, control and interference in Iraqi affairs” in a way that preserves Iraq's security. He advised the US embassy to not respond to the rocket attack, but leave the matter to Iraq, as Iraq “is the sovereign, not you.”
Baghdad’s Green Zone is located in central Baghdad and houses foreign embassies and Iraqi government offices.
American compounds and personnel have come under frequent attack in Iraq following the US killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike on January 3 near Baghdad airport. Washington blames the attacks on pro-Iranian groups.
After the US drone attack, Baghdad's parliament passed a non-binding motion to expel all foreign soldiers from Iraqi territory.
Spokesman for the US-led coalition, Col. Wayne Marotto told Rudaw on December 13 that the US would be drawing down its Coalition troops to 2,500 by January 15, noting that they have already “departed a number of Iraqi facilities,” in an effort to reduce their “footprint” in Iraq.
The American embassy in Baghdad has partially reduced its staff due to security concerns, senior Iraqi officials told AFP in early December. The decision came after at least four rockets were fired towards the US embassy on November 18, resulting in the death of a child and the wounding of five civilians.
Washington signaled late-September that it could close its diplomatic mission in Baghdad if measures are not taken to control armed groups responsible for recent attacks against the US and other interests in the country.
