Two Rockets Hit Baghdad’s Fortified Green Zone

Cars drive past the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 10, 2019. (Reuters)
Cars drive past the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 10, 2019. (Reuters)
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Two Rockets Hit Baghdad’s Fortified Green Zone

Cars drive past the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 10, 2019. (Reuters)
Cars drive past the Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraq June 10, 2019. (Reuters)

Two Katyusha rockets hit Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq's state news agency reported early on Sunday citing security forces.

One rocket was destroyed in the air by the C-RAM defense system and the other landed near the zone's festivals arena damaging two cars, the report added.

Security forces started an investigation to detect the launch site, the agency reported.

A US military official told Reuters that the C-RAM system brought down one of the rounds and none of them landed on the US embassy. The official said there were no American casualties.

The Green Zone hosts foreign embassies, including the US embassy, and government buildings and is regularly the target of rockets fired by groups that US and Iraqi officials say are backed by Iran.

US officials have said Iranian-backed militia could increase attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria in coming weeks, in part to mark the anniversary of the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The two were killed by a US drone strike in Iraq on Jan. 2, 2020.



Lebanese Security Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Safieddine Likely Killed in Israeli Strike

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanese Security Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Safieddine Likely Killed in Israeli Strike

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)

A Lebanese security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah as secretary general of Hezbollah in Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut last week.

It added that the Iran-backed party has so far refrained from announcing his death until it can retrieve his corpse.

Israeli drones have been flying around the clock for the fifth consecutive day over the targeted area that its jets bombed with around 73 tons of explosives.

The Israeli army said it had struck a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters.

An Israeli a government spokesperson said on Monday that Tel Aviv could not confirm Safieddine was killed in the attack.

Asked if Israel could confirm the death, spokesperson David Mencer told an online briefing: "We don't have that confirmation yet. When it is confirmed, as and when, it will be on the IDF (Israeli military) website."

A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed the area on Thursday.

Israel has killed much of Hezbollah's military command and senior leadership in nearly a year of fighting that began when Hezbollah opened a front in solidarity with Palestinians the day after Hamas' deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.