Hundreds of Shiite militants gathered around embassy compound, burning flags and throwing Molotov cocktails in protest of US bombings on Syrian border • Protesters read: "Damn America, death to Israel" • Ambassador and embassy staff evicted
Pro-Iranian protesters near US Embassy // Photo: AP
Protesters try to ignite United States Embassy in Baghdad // Photo: AP
Protesters ignite guard post at US ambassador to Baghdad // Photo: AP
Hundreds of protesters, pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, stormed the embassy compound to protest the US attack on the Hezbollah militia on Iraq's Syria border. The ambassador and embassy staff were evacuated.
Major Iraqi federal police have tried to fend off protesters from the embassy complex and local media reports have sounded an alarm from the fortified complex in the "green zone", the Iraqi capital's administrative district. It is not clear with the protesters that they have managed to break the protection ring around the embassy, but social media videos show the protesters trying to ignite the compound with Molotov cocktails and threaten the security guards in the marched glass march.
The rallies began after dozens of families killed in the US attack gathered in the capital for a birthday event under the auspices of the Iraqi Pro-Iranian Militia, Khashed a-Sha'abi.
Among the participants in the demonstrations was also the founder of the Hezbollah Battalion Organization, Abu Mahdi Hadi al-Mohandas, along with MPs and other senior officials in the state apparatus supporting Iran.
Yesterday the Iraqi media reported that the temporary government in Baghdad had appointed a close associate of Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Kassim Suleimani to oversee security in the Baghdad administration, raising concerns about the security of foreigners in the district.
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The US attack, which included five targets, three in Iraq and two in Syria, killed 25 terrorist Hezbollah Battalions established by the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Among those killed in the attack was also Case Al Hezali, a senior member of the Hezbollah Battalion Organization in Iraq, who was wounded while in the organization's headquarters near al-Qa'im.
The attack came as a response to rocket fire at an American military base in the city of Karkuk last week, a shooting from which an American contractor was killed and a number of soldiers in the United States were lightly wounded.