US shoots down 'airborne threat' over Baghdad embassy: statement

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States shot down an "airborne threat" over its embassy in Baghdad early Tuesday morning, the embassy reported hours after rockets were fired at a base housing US soldiers.

“Early on the morning of July 6, defensive systems at the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad engaged and eliminated an airborne threat,” said the embassy in a Facebook statement on Tuesday.

The attack was intercepted and no casualties were reported.

On Monday afternoon, three rockets hit Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province, coalition spokesperson Col. Wayne Marotto tweeted, saying there were no casualties as a result of the attack.

Iraqi militias backed by Iran are often blamed for these attacks, using drones and rockets against the interests of the United States across the country.

Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, said it will retaliate against America in an interview with AP on Monday, after the US attacked militias backed by Iran stationed on the Iraq-Syria border last week and killed at least four, following a drone attack on an area close to the new US consulate in Erbil in the previous days.

The frequency of attacks against Iraqi bases hosting foreign troops started to increase following the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad last year.

A leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) affiliated with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said in May there are Iranian-made drones in Iraq that are ready to be used against US combat troops in the country.

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