Anti-US militia quits Iraq embassy
Print Edition
PARAMILITARY groups who have been protesting against US airstrikes in Iraq began to withdraw from the perimeter of the American Embassy in Baghdad yesterday, a day after they stormed the outer perimeter, forcing Washington to dispatch extra troops and threaten reprisals against Iran.
By yesterday afternoon many had left the embassy and started setting up a protest camp in front of a nearby hotel. A small group of protesters remained and said they would not leave till US forces were expelled from Iraq.
The demonstrators, angry at US airstrikes that targeted an Iran-backed group and killed at least 25 people, hurled rocks at the building while US forces stationed on the rooftops fired tear gas to disperse them.
No US personnel were injured in the attack and US officials said they had no plans to evacuate.
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday night around 750 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division were prepared to deploy to the region in the coming days.
“This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” Esper said in a statement.
American airstrikes on Sunday killed 25 fighters of an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The US said those strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor and the wounding of American and Iraqi troops in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the US blamed on the militia.
The American strikes angered the Iraqi government, which called them an unjustified violation of its sovereignty.
The breach of the US Embassy compound in Baghdad was a stark demonstration that Iran can still strike at American interests despite Trump’s economic pressure campaign. It also revealed growing strains between Washington and Baghdad, raising questions about the future of the US military mission there.
“They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday afternoon, though it was unclear whether his “threat” meant military retaliation.
The embassy attack was the latest episode in spiralling tensions between the United States and Iran since Washington abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.
Many of those tensions have played out in Iraq, which has close ties with both governments.
Iran’s supreme leader yesterday condemned US strikes on Iraq and warned his country was ready to hit back.
“First of all, you can’t do a damn thing!
“This has nothing to do with Iran,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech on state television.
“If the Islamic republic decides to oppose or fight against a country, it will do this explicitly,” he said.
Tehran’s foreign ministry said it had summoned an official from the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Iran, over American “warmongering” in Iraq.
By yesterday, Iraqi forces had reimposed normal security measures around the perimeter of the Green Zone, usually inaccessible without a badge.
US officials were alarmed that protesters crossed checkpoints so easily on Tuesday.
An Iraqi special forces fighter assigned to guard the Green Zone said his units had no orders to intervene.
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