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.



Blinken Aims to 'Cross Finish Line' on Gaza Ceasefire, Hostages Deal

A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Blinken Aims to 'Cross Finish Line' on Gaza Ceasefire, Hostages Deal

A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Washington wanted to see a ceasefire deal in Gaza concluded and the hostages brought out in the next two weeks.
A renewed push is under way to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas and return Israeli hostages before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
"We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining," Blinken told a press conference in South Korea, when asked whether a ceasefire deal was close.