This is the first rocket attack to hit Baghdad under the rule of new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
"A Katyusha rocket landed on an empty house inside the Green Zone in Baghdad. As per information [we have obtained], this missile was launched from al-Idrisi neighborhood, on Paleostine Street, resulting in minor damage to the wall of the house," read a statement from the cell.
The blast could be heard across the Iraqi capital and triggered security sirens at the US embassy compound but did not result in casualties, security sources told AFP.
The Green Zone hosts several Iraqi government ministries, the federal parliament, and foreign diplomatic missions.
Such attacks have not been reported in the Green Zone for two months.
While no one has taken responsibility for the latest attack,the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi), have been accused of similar attacks in the capital city.
Tensions between Baghdad and Washington have run high since late last year, with pro-Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
militia supporters storming the US embassy compound in Baghdad in late December.
The US liquidation of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy Abu al-Muhandis in Baghdad on January 3 sent tensions soaring, prompting a flurry of rocket attacks targeting the embassy and Iraqi army bases hosting US-led coalition troops, attributed to pro-Iran militias in Iraq. A non-binding resolution followed to expel foreign troops from the country.
Earlier this week Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
said that the US will be "expelled" from both Syria and Iraq.