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Iraq
A screenshot of a video purportedly showing the C-RAM air defense system in action in Baghdad on September 15, 2020. Video via Twitter
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two rockets aimed at Baghdad's Green Zone just after midnight on Tuesday were "intercepted" by a US-deployed missile defence system, state media reported Iraqi Security Media Cell as announcing.
The Katyusha rockets were fired at 1 am on Tuesday morning from the Ali Saleh neighbourhood in the north of the Iraqi capital, the Cell said, but were "intercepted in the air by the C-RAM system".
No casualties or losses resulted from the attack, the Cell's statement added.
The US began deploying more air defence systems earlier this year, as attacks by Iran-backed militias on military bases with a US presence as well as diplomatic targets in Baghdad's Green Zone grew in size and frequency.
Among them is the Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM) system, designed to defend against drones and small rockets.
While consolidating its troops in fewer bases, the US has also deployed the Patriot air defence system to protect bases housing its personnel against longer-range missile attacks.
The C-RAM system intercepted rocket attacks on the Green Zone and on Baghdad International Airport in July.
US forces have handed over a number of bases it once controlled to the Iraqi Security Forces. They most recently withdrew from the Taji military base, northern Baghdad province in late August.
Washington announced earlier this month that it would be withdrawing more than 2,000 of its 5,200 Iraq-based troops from the country in the month of September.
Amid US troop movement from bases, Iraqi contractor convoys transporting US-led coalition military equipment have been targeted by IEDs. Most of the attacks have caused only minor damage, according to Iraqi Security Media Cell statements on the attacks.
A convoy transporting US-led Coalition military equipment was hit on Monday by two IEDs – one in Babil province, and one in Diwaniyah, the Cell said yesterday. No casualties or damage were reported in the attack.
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