Rockets Targeting US Embassy Land Inside Baghdad's Green Zone

FILE PHOTO: An Iraqi security officer stands guard next to the "Arch of Victory" memorial in the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily
FILE PHOTO: An Iraqi security officer stands guard next to the "Arch of Victory" memorial in the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily
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Rockets Targeting US Embassy Land Inside Baghdad's Green Zone

FILE PHOTO: An Iraqi security officer stands guard next to the "Arch of Victory" memorial in the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily
FILE PHOTO: An Iraqi security officer stands guard next to the "Arch of Victory" memorial in the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily

At least three Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone in an attack targeting the US Embassy, two Iraqi security sources said on Sunday.

The Iraqi military said that an "outlaw group" fired rockets at Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday.

The rockets hit a residential complex inside the Green Zone, damaging buildings and cars but causing no casualties, a military statement said.

Sirens blared from the embassy compound inside the zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions.

An anti-rocket system diverted one of the rockets, said one security official whose office is inside the Green Zone.

No casualties were reported, sources told Reuters.

US officials blame Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy in Baghdad.

An array of militia groups announced in October that they had suspended rocket attacks on US forces on condition that Iraq's government present a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.

But a rocket strike on the US Embassy on Nov. 18 was also a clear sign that Iranian-backed militias had decided to resume attacks on US bases, according to Iraqi security officials.

Washington, which is slowly reducing its 5,000 troops in Iraq, threatened to shut its embassy unless the Iraqi government reins in Iran-aligned militias.



Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
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Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

Some 29 Lebanese border villages have been “completely destroyed” by Israel, revealed Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International.

Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. Israel has been adopting this scorched earth policy since October in an attempt to set up a buffer zone along the border.

In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses followed by celebrations.

Chamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has destroyed 29 villages dotted across 120 kms from the Naqoura area in the west to Shebaa in the east.

The villages of Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Adeisseh, Houla, Dhayra, Marwahin, Mhaibib, and al-Khiam have been completely destroyed along with some 25,000 houses, he added.

Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.

Experts are in agreement that Israel is completely wiping out villages and all signs of life, including trees, to turn the area into a buffer zone so that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes.

They also believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home.

Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said Israel wants to be create a 3 km-deep buffer zone along its border with Lebanon.

Israel is destroying everything in that area, leaving it exposed so that any possible threat there can be easily spotted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

However, he remarked that Israel is not keeping its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and keep these areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.

The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.

“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.

Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.

So, what is taking place on the ground is in effect Israel just going to the extreme in violating international law, he added. “Its claims that it is targeting weapons and ammunition caches do not fool anyone because from a military standpoint, these caches are not stored along the border, but deeper in a country.”