Politics

Two Katyusha rockets land in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport: Military

The main press office for the Iraqi military announced that two rockets struck areas just outside Baghdad International Airport on Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks that have caused minimal damage and no casualties but illustrate a significant challenge to the government's control of its capital city.

Halgurd Sherwani 2020/08/30 22:13

middle east Iraq Baghdad Baghdad International Airport Rocket attacks Katyusha rockets

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The main press office for the Iraqi military announced that two rockets struck areas just outside Baghdad International Airport on Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks that have caused minimal damage and no casualties but illustrate a significant challenge to the government's control of its capital city.

Iraq’s Security Media Cell said in a statement that “two Katyusha rockets” fell in the vicinity of the sprawling airport compound. Unlike similar statements describing recent incidents, the military did not name the part of the city where the rocket was thought to have been launched from.

The attack comes one day after another rocket landed within Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, also called the International Zone, which houses multiple government offices and foreign embassies.

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 in attacks Washington and most international observers have blamed on Iranian-backed Shia militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

“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.

The US government throws the blame at Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq for the rocket attacks both on its embassy and troops stationed at military camps across the country.

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.

Editing by John J. Catherine and Karzan Sulaivany