Four killed in Iraq’s Baghdad as US forces, Iran-backed groups trade fire

Multiple explosions have rocked Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, with at least four people killed in an air raid on a building used by an Iran-backed group, and drone strikes targeting the United States Embassy, according to witnesses and security sources.

The deadly attack in Baghdad’s Jadriyah district followed the sound of an explosion from near the US Embassy compound in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone early on Tuesday.
Videos and photos, verified by Al Jazeera, show fire and smoke rising from the vicinity of the US embassy, while other footage shows air defences intercepting several drones in the skies near the compound.

According to the Reuters news agency, the embassy’s C-RAM air ‌defence system shot down at least two drones in the early hours of the morning, while a third struck inside the compound. Citing a witness, it said the fire and smoke seen in the area were rising from inside the compound.

There was no immediate comment from the US Embassy.

The strikes are part of an escalating cycle of attacks between US forces and Iraqi armed groups aligned with Tehran amid the US and Israel’s war on Iran. According to Reuters, the deadly strike in Baghdad’s Jadriyah targeted a house used as a headquarters by the Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).

The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of mostly Shia paramilitary factions, which was founded in 2014 to stop lightning advances by the ISIL (ISIS) group. The PMF was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.
The AFP news agency reported that the building in Jadriyah hosted Iranian advisers.
The strikes came hours after a drone hit a prominent hotel near the embassy in the Green Zone, causing a minor fire. Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, in a statement on Facebook, said the strike on Al Rasheed Hotel did not cause any casualties.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdel Wahed, reporting from Baghdad, said the explosives-laden drone hit the rooftop of the hotel, which is also known as the Royal Tulip Hotel.

The hotel, located near the US Embassy, “is home to several foreign diplomatic missions, including… the European Union and Saudi Arabia, and also foreign employees at oil companies”, Abdel Wahed said.

“Following this attack, security forces have been deployed in the area, and they have blocked all roads to the Green Zone with armoured vehicles and barricades.”

According to Abdel Wahed, the strike on Al Rasheed appeared to be in retaliation for a deadly and suspected US attack on a checkpoint manned by PMF forces in the town of Al-Qaim, in the western Anbar province, near the border with Syria, earlier in the day. According to the Iraqi army, at least eight troops were killed in the attack.

“Since the beginning of the US-Israel campaign against Iran, armed groups aligned with Iran have been targeting US military bases and facilities, including the US Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil, dozens and dozens of times,” Abdel Wahed added.

The Iraqi army, meanwhile, condemned the checkpoint strike as a “treacherous and cowardly attack”. It said seven others were also wounded.

“We affirm our absolute and unequivocal rejection of the shedding of innocent blood, or any attempt to target the brave sons of the security forces in the Popular Mobilisation Forces. This blood that watered the land of Iraq in defence of its dignity is not cheap, and will never be subject to leniency,” it added.

Also on Monday, the Kataib Hezbollah armed group, one of the largest in the PMF, announced the death of a senior commander. It did not provide details of the circumstances of Abu Ali Al-Askari’s death.

Monday also saw attacks on Iraq’s oil infrastructure.

Two Iraqi security officials told the Associated Press news agency that the Majnoon oilfield in Iraq’s southern Basra province was hit by two drones. No casualties were reported, and it was not immediately clear if there was damage to the facilities.

Iraq’s oil industry has been severely affected by the US and Israel’s war on Iran and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil trading corridor.