Rockets Hit Iraqi Base North of Baghdad

Iraqi security forces gather at a checkpoint into the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani/Files
Iraqi security forces gather at a checkpoint into the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani/Files
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Rockets Hit Iraqi Base North of Baghdad

Iraqi security forces gather at a checkpoint into the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani/Files
Iraqi security forces gather at a checkpoint into the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani/Files

Two Katyusha rockets hit an Iraqi base north of Baghdad late Saturday but missed US-led coalition troops stationed there, Iraq's military and a coalition official said.

A statement from Iraq's security forces said the rockets were launched north of Baghdad and did not cause any damage to the Taji base.

A coalition official confirmed the projectiles fell outside the coalition's segment of the base.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

It was the third attack in a week to target US troops or diplomats.

Two rockets struck the grounds of the vast Baghdad airport complex on Monday and an unguided rocket hit close to the fortified US embassy two days later.

The attacks follow several weeks of relative respite from more than two dozen similar incidents in recent months.

Since October, at least 30 attacks have targeted American troops or diplomats, severely straining ties between Baghdad and Washington.

Tensions reached boiling point in January when the US killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike in Baghdad.

Washington has accused armed groups backed by Iran for the repeated rocket attacks. But it also blamed the Iraqi government for not doing enough to protect US installations.

The first session of the much-anticipated strategic talks between the US and Iraq began Thursday, and is to lay the agenda for the months ahead, including the presence of US troops in the country, Iran-backed militia groups acting outside of the state and Iraq’s dire economic crisis.

US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker, in comments to reporters in Washington following the session, said Iraq had committed to “moving ahead and undertaking their obligations,” with regards to militia attacks targeting the American presence.



Israel: Elimination of Nasrallah ‘Not the End of Our Toolbox’

An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV shows the Lebanese group's chief Hassan Nasrallah addressing the nation from an undisclosed location on September 19, 2024. (Photo by Al-Manar / AFP)
An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV shows the Lebanese group's chief Hassan Nasrallah addressing the nation from an undisclosed location on September 19, 2024. (Photo by Al-Manar / AFP)
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Israel: Elimination of Nasrallah ‘Not the End of Our Toolbox’

An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV shows the Lebanese group's chief Hassan Nasrallah addressing the nation from an undisclosed location on September 19, 2024. (Photo by Al-Manar / AFP)
An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV shows the Lebanese group's chief Hassan Nasrallah addressing the nation from an undisclosed location on September 19, 2024. (Photo by Al-Manar / AFP)

Israel said Saturday that it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs, dealing its most significant blow to the Lebanese group after months of fighting. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.

Nasrallah becomes the latest, and by far the most powerful, target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified fighting with Hezbollah. The army said that several top Hezbollah commanders were killed along with Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike Friday. The military said it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.

Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Saturday that the elimination of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox.” He said that the strike targeting Hezbollah’s leadership was the result of a long period of preparation.

The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel - we will know how to reach them," Halevi added.

Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes Friday, which leveled six apartment buildings.

"We hope this will change Hezbollah's actions," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said in a media briefing after the military confirmed it had killed Nasrallah.

But he said there was still a way to go in degrading Hezbollah's capabilities.

"We've seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It's safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to," he added.

The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers, activating three battalions of reserve soldiers after sending two brigades to northern Israel along Lebanon’s border earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.

At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past week from Israeli airstrikes, according to the Health Ministry.