Three rockets were fired early Wednesday, May 6, in the area of Baghdad airport, stopped as part of measures taken by the Iraqi authorities to combat the spread of the disease of Covid-19, according to the services of security.
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These are the first shots aimed at this sector since the American drone attack which killed in January the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani with the Iraqi Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis, deputy head of Hachd al-Chaabi, a coalition of dominated forces by pro-Iran paramilitaries now integrated into the state. The gunfire on Wednesday targeted around 4:00 am (01:00 GMT) "the headquarters of the counterterrorism forces where American forces are also located , " a police source told AFP.
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The attack left neither wounded nor damaged, said a press release from the security services. These services claim to have found in Bakriya, an area west of Baghdad located 7 km from the affected area, the rocket launcher used for these shots, equipped with a timer. However, they do not specify who is behind the shots.
Washington plan of attack
Tensions between Iran and the United States, two of Baghdad's major allies, have eased markedly on Iraqi territory for about a month, including an end to attacks on American targets and retaliatory strikes. But this break observed during the pandemic of the new coronavirus actually allows the two enemies to get into battle, warn experts and diplomats.
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According to an Iraqi source, a plan has been drawn up by Washington to carry out a hundred simultaneous strikes against Iraqi armed factions. It targets in particular the Hezbollah Brigades, accused by the United States of targeting their forces and those of the international coalition, led by Washington. In the opposing camp, groups claiming to be from the Iranian axis in the Middle East have called for the assassinations of Americans.
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The Iraqi authorities are in a delicate position vis-à-vis the coalition: they continue to carry out operations with its troops against the jihadists, but the Parliament called for the expulsion of the foreign troops led by Washington, including 5200 Americans.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, 2,500 instructors from the international coalition, all nationalities combined, left Iraq with no known return date. The remaining troops, almost all of them American, have gathered in a handful of bases, two of which are now protected by Patriot anti-aircraft batteries sent by Washington.
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