Katyusha Missiles Target Baghdad International Airport, Kadhimi Orders Investigation

Baghdad International Airport runway, EPA
Baghdad International Airport runway, EPA
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Katyusha Missiles Target Baghdad International Airport, Kadhimi Orders Investigation

Baghdad International Airport runway, EPA
Baghdad International Airport runway, EPA

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi ordered on Monday a security investigation into the party responsible for the missile attack on Baghdad International Airport.

The Security Media Cell said that the Joint Operations Command, heeding the Kadhimi’s call, is launching an investigation to determine the party that is responsible for firing 3 Katyusha rockets at Baghdad International Airport, which caused material losses.

The Cell also revealed that it was found that the three rockets were launched from the Zaytoun area in the Abu Ghraib district, west of the capital. One of the rockets fell on the airport’s parking lot, damaging four civilian cars.

It remains unclear if the investigation will truly lead to holding the responsible party accountable given that many similar militia attacks, chiefly aimed at getting the US to withdraw from Iraq, have gone unpunished.

Baghdad International Airport has been exposed to repeated bombing recently, and on August 18 and 30 missiles fell in its vicinity.

These attacks came as part of a series of unknown rockets targeting the airport, in addition to the military bases.

It is noteworthy that the launched investigation is the second of its kind in under a week.

The latest rocket attack is believed to be directed by an armed faction seeking to take over the airport and expel the currently present British security service “G4S.”

“The militias' insistence on bombing the airport is primarily aimed at expelling the British security protection company "G4S" to acquire the airport protection contract through its affiliated subsidiaries,” a well-informed source at the Baghdad International Airport told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Last week, the militia faction deliberately bombed the company's headquarters to pressure it into terminating the existing protection contract,” the source added.

They also pointed out to Iran-backed armed factions launching an organized defamation campaign against G4S, which runs a publicly clean record since taking over security at the airport some 15 years ago.

Last Thursday, a similar attack targeted the G4S building at the airport. It resulted in severe damage.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.