Three rockets fall near US embassy in Iraq's Baghdad; all eyes on Iran

Three rockets fell near the United States (US) embassy at the high-security Green Zone in Iraq's capital Baghdad, news agency AFP reported on Tuesday morning, citing security sources.

No immediate reports of casualties have been received.

According to AFP, sirens could be heard across the zone immediately after the rockets made their impact. A BBC reporter also posted on Twitter about the alarms that were sounding in the US embassy complex, adding that speakers were telling those who were inside to take shelter.

#Breaking

“Rocket attack alarms sounding off multiple times on the #US #Baghdad Embassy Complex and Union III. Heard the booms myself on Union III. Speakers telling all to take shelter immediately.” pic.twitter.com/F1lpbWm9RE

— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) January 20, 2020

Iraqi police told news agency Reuters that three Katyusha rockets, launched from the Zafaraniyah district outside Baghdad, fell inside the Green Zone, Two of these rockets landed near the US embassy. The high-security Green Zone in Baghdad houses government buildings and foreign embassies.

The US has blamed Iran-backed paramilitary groups for a spate of similar attacks in recent months on the Green Zone, but there has never been a claim of responsibility. Two more rockets had also been launched earlier at the same spot. Earlier this month, seven mortar bombs fell inside Iraq’s Balad airbase which houses American troops.

The attack also comes days after Iran dropped over a dozen ballistic missiles on two airbases at Al-Assad and Irbil, in Iraq, that housed United States soldiers in retaliation against last week’s assassination of its top military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Defending the killing of the top military commander, the US President had claimed that Iran had been the leading sponsor of terrorism. In his public announcement said that he gave the orders to kill in an effort to 'stop a war' not to 'start a war' with Iran