Iraq Military: Rocket Hit Baghdad Green Zone, Minor Damages

Iraqi security forces stand guard near the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, March 31, 2016. (Reuters)
Iraqi security forces stand guard near the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, March 31, 2016. (Reuters)
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Iraq Military: Rocket Hit Baghdad Green Zone, Minor Damages

Iraqi security forces stand guard near the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, March 31, 2016. (Reuters)
Iraqi security forces stand guard near the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, March 31, 2016. (Reuters)

A rocket struck Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government, early on Tuesday morning, according to an Iraqi military statement, the first attack on the area since Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi was sworn in earlier this month.

The Katyusha rocket hit an empty house, causing minor damages, reported The Associated Press.

The Green Zone is where government buildings and foreign embassies are located. A preliminary investigation indicated the rocket was launched from the nearby Al-Idrisi neighborhood on Palestine Street, the statement said.

An Iraqi official said the rocket had struck near the US Embassy, without elaborating. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Previous attacks have frequently targeted the US presence in Iraq, including the embassy and Iraqi bases hosting American troops. The US has blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia group backed by Iran, of perpetrating the attacks.

Kadhimi’s government, which was approved just weeks ago, is preparing for a strategic dialogue with Washington, expected to take place next month. The talks will touch on security and economic cooperation between both countries.

The issue of militias acting outside of state control is also expected to be on the agenda.

Kadhimi's government, meanwhile, is scrambling to address a severe financial crisis brought on by falling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.



Israeli Soldier Sentenced to 7 Months in Jail for Abusing Palestinian Detainees

An Israeli soldier walks across an agricultural field at the entrance of the Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem on February 5, 2025, as the army conducts a raid in the occupied West Bank city. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
An Israeli soldier walks across an agricultural field at the entrance of the Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem on February 5, 2025, as the army conducts a raid in the occupied West Bank city. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
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Israeli Soldier Sentenced to 7 Months in Jail for Abusing Palestinian Detainees

An Israeli soldier walks across an agricultural field at the entrance of the Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem on February 5, 2025, as the army conducts a raid in the occupied West Bank city. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
An Israeli soldier walks across an agricultural field at the entrance of the Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem on February 5, 2025, as the army conducts a raid in the occupied West Bank city. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

An Israeli soldier who was found to have struck Palestinian detainees while they were restrained and blindfolded has been sentenced to seven months in jail by an Israeli military court.
The Israeli military on Thursday announced the court had accepted a plea agreement with the soldier, a reservist who it said admitted to having "severely abused" Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military detention centre near the border with the Gaza Strip.
"The defendant was convicted of several incidents in which he struck detainees with his fists and his weapon while they were bound and blindfolded," the military said. It did not name the soldier or detail the charges he was convicted of, Reuters reported.
The military statement did not identify where the Palestinian detainees were from, why they had been detained or whether they had since been charged or convicted of crimes or released from detention.
In addition to seven months imprisonment, the court handed the soldier a suspended sentence and demoted him to the rank of private. The military said the soldier had served as a security guard at the detention center but did not say what rank he had held. Israeli media reported the soldier's jail sentence included time that he had already spent in detention.
The military court found that other masked soldiers had participated in the abuse but that their identities had not been determined, the military said, without saying how many.
The convicted soldier had beaten the detainees in front of other soldiers, some of whom had told him to stop, the military said, adding that a recording of the abuse had been found on the mobile phone of the convicted soldier.
The military has been investigating allegations that soldiers had abused Palestinians from Gaza held in military detention since the start of the war in October 2023. The military on Thursday did not say whether investigations were still ongoing or if any other soldiers had been charged.
In July last year, right-wing Israeli protesters broke into Sde Teiman detention facility and another Israeli military compound after investigators arrived to question soldiers about suspected abuse.