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Iraq
Protesters stage a sit-in on barriers at the Sinak bridge leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on January 26, 2020. Photo: Hadi Mizban / AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, has denied that one of its factions fired rockets at the US embassy on Sunday evening, claiming its factions are too “disciplined” to have conducted the attack.
“Hashd al-Shaabi has nothing to do with the parties that targeted the American embassy in Iraq. These groups only represent themselves,” Abu Ali al-Basri, assistant to the US-assassinated PMF deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis said in a statement published by state media.
“Some sides would like to drag Hashd al-Shaabi’s name into this topic without any evidence. The formations of Hashd al-Shaabi are present and disciplined,” Basri said, claiming the PMF is working in cooperation and coordination with Iraqi security forces.
The militia umbrella group’s response followed the fire of five Katyusha rockets at Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to the US embassy, on Sunday night.
Two US embassy staffers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Associated Press that the rockets slammed into a restaurant in the compound, injuring a staff member.
Amid months of heightened US-Iran tensions, rocket fire at the heavily fortified Green Zone has become increasingly frequent, and has previously been blamed on Iran-backed groups in Iraq.
Sunday’s attack came less than a month after rocket attacks set off an escalation of US-Iran hostility in the country.
On December 27 of last year, a rocket attack on the K-1 military base in Kirkuk, blamed largely on the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, killed a US civilian contractor and injured additional personnel.
The US responded with airstrikes on Kataib Hezbollah targets on December 29, killing 25 of the militia’s fighters, with supporters of Kataib Hezbollah storming the US Embassy in response a few days later.
The US killed high-profile Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy head Mohandis in Baghdad on January 3, to which Iran responded by firing two dozen ballistic missiles at bases hosting US troops in Iraq.
Tensions have since decreased, but powerful figures including influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have joined Iran-backed group efforts to expel US troops in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis attended a Sadr-sponsored protest on Friday calling for US withdrawal.
However, Sadr used the protest to call for the PMF and other Iran-backed groups not to attack US forces or their diplomatic mission in Iraq.
Individual factions, who all have their own command structures, also denied responsibility for the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah issued a statement of denial via al-Ghadeer TV, a PMF-affiliated TV channel, on Monday. The militia claimed the timing of the attack is “not right” and “could cause embarrassment to the government”.
“These acts of sabotage aim to create internal strife, hamper the sovereignty project and the withdrawal of foreign troops,” said Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Fatih coalition – a parliamentary group with strong ties to the PMF.
The military spokesperson of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the most virulently anti-US PMF factions, also denied responsibility.
“We reiterate that the latest rocket attack against the Embassy of Evil [US]in Baghdad is not the work of factions of Iraqi resistance as we have asserted previously that resistance factions would not target Embassies or diplomatic missions in Iraq, military spokesperson Jawad al-Talibawi said in a Monday tweet.
Sunday’s attack was slammed by Iraqi officials, including caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who said the “irresponsible” rocket strikes could turn Iraq into a battlefield. US Secretary of State Mike called Abdul-Mahdi on Monday night to discuss the strike on the embassy, according to a statement from the prime minister's media office, with both sides asserting the need to protect diplomatic missions and hold its perpetrators to account.
Parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi denounced the attacks as “behavior that damages the reputation of Iraq, weakens the state, and harms its sovereignty.”
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