Six Rockets Target Baghdad Airport, Damaging Two Planes

At least three rockets landed in the perimeter of Baghdad International Airport late on Thursday. (AFP file photo)
At least three rockets landed in the perimeter of Baghdad International Airport late on Thursday. (AFP file photo)
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Six Rockets Target Baghdad Airport, Damaging Two Planes

At least three rockets landed in the perimeter of Baghdad International Airport late on Thursday. (AFP file photo)
At least three rockets landed in the perimeter of Baghdad International Airport late on Thursday. (AFP file photo)

Six rockets were fired Friday at the Iraqi capital's airport, causing damage but no casualties, authorities said, the latest in a string of attacks the US blames on Iran-linked militias.

The rockets hit Baghdad International Airport's causing "significant damage to one runway and to two civilian planes", the Civil Aviation department said in a statement.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi denounced the attacks, which he said were aimed at "tarnishing" Iraq's reputation and "casting doubt over the security situation".

The attack was not immediately claimed by any group.

Recent months have seen rocket and drone attacks target the US embassy in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, a US diplomatic facility at the airport and troops belonging to a US-led coalition stationed at Iraqi bases.

The past few weeks have also seen violence targeting Iraqi politicians and parties, largely consisting of grenade attacks, but also extending to one rocket assault near the home of a key politician, amid tensions surrounding the formation of a new government.

One of the planes hit was a Boeing 767 belonging to Iraqi Airways, that was out of service and stationary.

The state-owned airline posted pictures of the damage, consisting of a hole near the nose of a plane. No flights were affected by the attack, the airline added.

The security services also said that Katyusha rockets had been fired on the airport.

A rocket launcher with three projectiles was found in the Abu Ghreib region north of Baghdad, the security services said, adding they had "important leads" that could help track down the assailants.

Post-election tensions
Like Friday's rockets, recent attacks are rarely claimed.

But they are routinely pinned on pro-Iran factions, who demand that US troops deployed to help Iraqi forces fight the ISIS group leave the country.

The US-led coalition ended its combat mission in Iraq in December, four years after the Baghdad government declared victory over the extremists.

But roughly 2,500 American soldiers and 1,000 coalition soldiers remain deployed in Iraq to offer training, advice and assistance to national forces.

On January 3, US forces downed two armed drones that targeted the coalition at Baghdad airport, according to a coalition source.

On January 13, three people, including two children, were wounded by a rocket that hit a school in the Green Zone, while two other rockets fell inside the US embassy complex, without causing casualties.

Recent attacks have also come amid a tense political situation.

An election in October saw Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, the political wing of pro-Iran ex-paramilitary coalition Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), lose most of its seats. It alleged the polls were rigged.

A bloc led by Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr took the largest share of seats, and is trying to form a coalition government that could include Sunni and Kurdish factions.

Three rockets on Tuesday landed near the home of Sunni parliament speaker and prospective Sadr ally Mohammed al-Halbousi, just hours after the supreme court approved his re-election in that role.



Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.