Iraqi Army: 2 Rockets Hit Baghdad's Green Zone

 In this file photo taken on December 29, 2014 US soldiers walk around at the Taji base complex which hosts Iraqi and US troops and is located thirty kilometres north of the capital Baghdad. -AFP
In this file photo taken on December 29, 2014 US soldiers walk around at the Taji base complex which hosts Iraqi and US troops and is located thirty kilometres north of the capital Baghdad. -AFP
TT

Iraqi Army: 2 Rockets Hit Baghdad's Green Zone

 In this file photo taken on December 29, 2014 US soldiers walk around at the Taji base complex which hosts Iraqi and US troops and is located thirty kilometres north of the capital Baghdad. -AFP
In this file photo taken on December 29, 2014 US soldiers walk around at the Taji base complex which hosts Iraqi and US troops and is located thirty kilometres north of the capital Baghdad. -AFP

Two rockets hit Iraqi capital's high-security Green Zone early Thursday, hours before US-led forces were set to pull out of a second base in the country.

The two projectiles struck near the Baghdad Operations Command, which coordinates Iraq's police and military forces, the military said.

The command center is a few hundred meters away from the US Embassy, which is a regular target of rocket attacks. However, an Iraqi security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said there were no casualties.

Some 7,500 troops are in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition helping local troops fight terrorist remnants.

However, the number is being brought down by temporarily bringing some trainers home as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic. The alliance is also leaving other Iraqi bases altogether.

It was the latest rocket attack to strike the Green Zone since three rockets hit an area near the embassy last Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier this month, two US military personnel and a British soldier were killed in a rocket attack on the Taji airbase further north, which was hit again two days later.

The repeated assaults prompted US airstrikes against what US officials said were mainly weapons facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Iraqi militia group believed to be responsible for the attack.



UN Human Rights Chief Decries Israeli Bombing in Northern Gaza

Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

UN Human Rights Chief Decries Israeli Bombing in Northern Gaza

Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The United Nations’ human rights chief says the Israeli government’s actions in northern Gaza “risk emptying the area of all Palestinians” and argues that “we are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes.”

Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, decried “nonstop” bombing in northern Gaza in a statement Friday and said that “the Israeli military has ordered hundreds of thousands to move, with no guarantees of return. But there is no safe way to leave.”

Israel has been carrying out a major offensive in northern Gaza for more than two weeks. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes. The military says it is battling Hamas fighters who regrouped in the north, one of the first targets of the ground offensive at the start of the war.

Türk said that “the Israeli government’s policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity.”

He said Palestinian armed groups also reportedly continue to operate amongst civilians and put them in harm’s way.

Türk called on world leaders to act, pointing to a duty under the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.