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News ID: 87939
Publish Date : 23 February 2021 - 22:11

Rockets Hit Baghdad’s Green Zone, Draw Ire From Officials

BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – At least two rocket attacks hit Baghdad’s so-called Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy is located, the Iraqi military said on Monday.
The Green Zone hosts foreign embassies and government buildings and is regularly the target of rockets fired.
One of newly launched rockets reportedly fell within the borders of the high-security zone, while the others landed in surrounding residential neighborhoods.
No casualties were reported and no group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Senior Iraqi officials and Kata’ib Hezbollah resistance group, which is part of the Popular Mobilization Units, denounced the rocket attack, blaming rouge elements for the "unjustifiable” assault.
"We strongly condemn the resumption of attacks on diplomatic centers and spread of terror among the residents of Baghdad,” Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance in Iraq’s parliament, said in a statement.
Kata’ib Hezbollah’s military spokesman Jaafar al-Husseini also called the rocket attack on the high-security Green Zone of Baghdad an attempt to foment unrest in Iraq.
Furthermore, influential Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Baghdad government to take proper actions to stop attacks on diplomatic missions.
Additionally, the leader of the National Wisdom Movement (al-Hikma), Ammar al-Hakim, deplored attacks on diplomatic missions, especially in the Green Zone in the center of Baghdad.
He said those individuals who launch such assaults are not concerned about the dire consequences of their actions, which tarnish the reputation of Iraq, damage the prestige of the government in the global public opinion, and endanger the lives of people residing in the nearby areas.
Qais al-Khazali, leader of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which is also part of the PMU, also slammed the rocket attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone.
It was the third attack over the past few days to target western diplomatic, military or commercial buildings in Iraq, after months of a relative lull in violence.
On 15 February, a contractor was killed and at least nine other people, including a U.S. trooper, were injured in a rocket attack on a military base used by U.S. forces in Erbil, Iraq.