BAGHDAD’S ULTRA-SECURE GREEN ZONE HIT BY TWO KATYUSHA ROCKETS

Sun 19 December 2021:

On Sunday, Iraqi security forces issued a statement claiming that two rockets were fired at Baghdad’s highly secure Green Zone. The Green Zone houses the US embassy. The attack happened early Sunday, according to security forces.

“The Green Zone in Baghdad was the target of two Katyusha rockets. The first was shot down in the air by C-RAM defence batteries, the second fell in a square, damaging two vehicles,” the statement said.

According to AFP, the first rocket was shot down near the US embassy, while the second was shot down about 500 meters (1,640 feet) away.

Two rockets had previously been shot down near the US embassy, according to the source.

The incident resulted in no casualties, according to US Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban.

He said no shots hit the embassy or the so-called Union III area where US-led coalition forces are based.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

In recent months, dozens of rocket assaults or drone bomb attacks have targeted American troops and interests in Iraq.
The attacks are rarely claimed but are routinely pinned on pro-Iran factions.

The latest rocket fire comes after the announcement this week of the end of the “combat mission” in Iraq of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group.

But roughly 2,500 American soldiers and 1,000 coalition soldiers will remain deployed in Iraq to offer training, advice and assistance to national forces.

In Iraq, pro-Iran factions are calling for the withdrawal of all US forces stationed there.

The attack on Sunday also marks the tenth anniversary of US troops leaving Iraq on December 18, 2011, following the invasion and overthrow of former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In 2014, Washington sent troops to the country to combat ISIS, which had taken large swaths of the country in a lightning offensive.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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