Photo: USEmbBaghdad/ Twitter
Air-defense systems were activated after rockets were launched at the United States Embassy in Baghdad on Saturday, according to sources in Iraqi security services and witnesses cited by Reuters.
Several rockets were fired from a Katyusha multiple rocket launcher toward the diplomatic compound in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad. Air-raid sirens sounded across the area around 9:00 p.m. local time, warning people to immediately seek shelter. It remains unclear whether the attack caused any damage or casualties.
A senior Iraqi security official said the C-RAM missile defense system intercepted at least one of the rockets and none landed directly inside the embassy compound. According to the official, no Americans were injured.
The incident marks the first attack on the embassy in more than two years. The previous recorded strike occurred in late 2023, when about seven mortar shells fell inside the diplomatic complex amid a wave of attacks by Iran-aligned groups on U.S. facilities in Iraq and Syria. Those attacks followed Washington’s support for Israel during the war against Hamas in Gaza Strip.
The latest strike suggests that Iraqi armed groups linked to Iran—which have vowed revenge for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader—may be expanding their list of targets. Previously, they focused primarily on U.S. military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan and American energy interests in the region.
Following the attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al‑Sudani ordered security forces to identify and detain those responsible for launching the rockets. In a statement, his office described the perpetrators as “outlaw groups that do not represent the will of the Iraqi people.”
