The commander of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia is vowing more attacks on US interests in Iraq after the US Embassy in Baghdad came under mortar fire.
On Friday morning local time, a multi-mortar attack was launched against the US Embassy compound in Iraq, a US official told CNN. There were no injuries or infrastructure damage reported. Hours later, US and coalition forces came under attack three more times – once in Syria, and twice in Iraq – in a mix of rocket and drone attacks.
The commander of the Iraqi Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Abu Alaa al-Walae, did not claim responsibility for the attacks, but said later Friday that they “reject talk about stopping or easing operations as long as Zionist crimes continue in Gaza and the American occupation continues in Iraq.”
Last month, the US Department of State designated Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and its secretary general as specially designated global terrorists.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said his government will “pursue the perpetrators of the attack” and “bring them to justice.”
In a statement released by his office on Friday, al-Sudani “stressed that targeting diplomatic missions is something that cannot be justified and cannot be accepted, under any circumstances and regardless of the allegations and illusions behind these shameful acts.”
The US called on Iraqi Security Forces “to immediately investigate and arrest the perpetrators” of the attack.
“The many Iran-aligned militias that operate freely in Iraq threaten the security and stability of Iraq, our personnel, and our partners in the region,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Friday.
“Prime Minister Sudani rightly called these attacks acts of ‘terrorism,’” Miller noted.
“The Iraqi Government has repeatedly committed to protect diplomatic…
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