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| Iraq | |
| Two rockets land near Baghdad airport targeting US forces | |
| 2019-12-09 | |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] At least two rockets landed near Baghdad International Airport in an attack targeting US forces, Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported. The attack late on Sunday came just days after two Iraqi military sources said two mortar bombs landed inside the Balad air force base in Iraq. Late on Friday, unidentified gunmen attacked a parking complex near Tahrir where demonstrators had been squatting for weeks, leaving 20 protesters and four police officers dead, medics told AFP. At least 452 people – the vast majority of them protesters – have died since mass protests gripped the country while 20,000 have been wounded.
It is the latest in an uptick in rocket attacks targeting either Iraqi bases where American troops are located or the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. U.S. defense officials have blamed several on Iran-backed factions in Iraq. Security sources told AFP that the wounded in Monday's attack belong to Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service, an elite unit that was created and trained by U.S. forces. Two of them are in critical condition, the sources said. The military complex also hosts a small group of U.S. soldiers and American diplomats. There have been at least nine attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq in the span of six weeks. There have been no claims of responsibility and no U.S. forces have been wounded. Security sources have linked at least one last week to Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite faction close to Tehran and blacklisted by Washington. Iran holds vast sway in Iraq, especially among the more hardline elements of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a security force largely made up of Shiite militias. A U.S. defense official told AFP the rocket attacks made the Hashed a bigger security threat to American troops in Iraq than the Islamic State group, the jihadist movement which the U.S. has vowed to help Baghdad wipe out. On Friday the United States imposed sanctions on three senior Hashed figures. U.S. officials say they are considering plans to deploy between 5,000 and 7,000 additional troops to the region to counter its arch-foe Iran. | |
| Posted by:Fred |