Rockets Hit Iraqi Base Hosting US Contractors, 1 Iraqi Injured

US soldiers walk past army trucks at the Balad air base, north of Baghdad. (AFP file photo)
US soldiers walk past army trucks at the Balad air base, north of Baghdad. (AFP file photo)
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Rockets Hit Iraqi Base Hosting US Contractors, 1 Iraqi Injured

US soldiers walk past army trucks at the Balad air base, north of Baghdad. (AFP file photo)
US soldiers walk past army trucks at the Balad air base, north of Baghdad. (AFP file photo)

Three rockets hit the Iraqi military air base of Balad north of Baghdad on Saturday, injuring one Iraqi contractor, Iraqi security officials said on Saturday.

No group immediately claimed the attack, reported Reuters.

It was the second salvo of rockets to hit a base hosting US forces or contractors in less than a week.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Armed groups that some Iraqi officials say are backed by Iran have claimed similar incidents in the past.



Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.