Rocket lands in Baghdad’s Green Zone: Iraqi Military

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq announced that a Katyusha rocket landed inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on late Saturday, just two days after a trio of rockets hit the same general vicinity.

“A Katyusha rocket landed inside one of the Green Zone’s empty areas,” a statement from the military press office known as the Iraqi Security Media Cell read, adding that it caused no casualties.

Similarly, the Green Zone witnessed three Katyusha rockets on Friday which also resulted in no injuries.

Read More: Three Katyusha rockets land in Baghdad’s Green Zone: military

The military said that the rocket was launched from Rusafa, the eastern side of the capital city that is halved by the Tigris River that meanders through its center.

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.

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 John J. Catherine