Twin rockets target Baghdad’s Green Zone amid spike in attacks on US forces

The US Embassy compound is pictured at night inside Baghdad's Green Zone. (Photo: Archive)
The US Embassy compound is pictured at night inside Baghdad's Green Zone. (Photo: Archive)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Baghdad’s highly fortified zone faced an early morning attack on Thursday in which two rockets hit areas either within or around the sprawling compound.

This is the third rocket or drone attack in 36 hours targeting areas in Iraq with either US facilities or bases where American troops or contractors are housed, such as with the previous two incidents at bases in Anbar province or the Kurdistan Region’s capital Erbil.

The twin rockets, one of which fell outside the Green Zone, and the other inside the compound, took place in early Thursday morning at approximately 3:00 a.m. local time, according to Reuters, citing security forces that said the embassy's anti-rocket system diverted one of the rockets.

No official statements have yet been released regarding the attack, including details about casualties or physical damage. 

Green Zone, also called the International Zone, is an area located in the heart of the Iraqi capital which houses multiple government buildings and foreign diplomatic missions.

The recent increase in attacks against forces of the US-led Coalition to Defeat ISIS came after the US hit a number of warehouses located along Iraq-Syria border which killed four members of Iranian-backed militias of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

A PMF leader said in a recent interview with AP that he “vowed” to take revenge for the death of the four militiamen anywhere the US forces are present in Iraq as an “open war.”

The US Army announced on Tuesday that it would send the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Iraq later this summer to support the anti-ISIS Coalition, formally known as CJTF-OIR (Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.)

Read More: US to send new Army brigade to Erbil in troop rotation

The Stryker Brigade will come out of Fort Carlson, Colorado, and some 1,800 personnel will replace the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from the Louisiana National Guard, which will return to the US.

The 256th Infantry Brigade deployed to Erbil last January, when it replaced troops from the 82nd Airborne.

Editing by John J. Catherine