Three mortars fall in Baghdad’s Green Zone: Military

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Three mortars fell inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Tuesday morning, without causing any causalities, Iraq’s top military source said.

The new attack comes as part of a series of mortar and rocket attacks on the sites housing diplomatic missions, including foreign military personnel stationed in Iraq to provide advice for the Iraqi security forces.

The Green Zone, or International Zone, is a fortified area inside Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad, which houses the US Embassy and other foreign diplomatic missions as well as the Iraqi government’s top institution buildings such as the parliament.

The mortars hit the Green Zone on Tuesday morning, Iraqi Security Media Cell announced, as it did not result in any casualties.

The source did not reveal from which direction the mortars were launched, as it usually indicates.

However, no entity has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, similar attacks are usually blamed on Iranian-backed Shia militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) by Washington and most international observers.

Frequent rocket attacks on military installations hosting military advisors of the US-led Coalition to defeat the Islamic State occurred with regularity over the past few years. Additionally, multiple areas within the Green Zone have also been commonly targeted by often improvised rockets.

“We continue to arrest those behind these attacks, and their aim is clear. That is to embarrass the government,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi told The National in a recent interview about such attacks.

“They want the government to appear weak. These reckless rocket attacks hurt Iraqis, also,” Kadhimi added.

An elite Iraqi unit raided a headquarters of a PMF militia in southern Baghdad in late June and arrested a number of its fighters who were later released. The move was considered a bold one against the militias, intensifying tensions between the government’s security apparatuses and armed groups.

Read More: Elite Iraqi force raids base of Iran-aligned militia in Baghdad

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany