FILE: Rocket trails are seen in the sky above Netanya on March 7, 2026. Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP
Air defence systems successfully intercepted rockets aimed at the US embassy in Baghdad, security sources confirmed to AFP on Saturday.
This marked the first such attack on the embassy since the outbreak of the Middle East war following the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which have drawn Iraq into the conflict.
AFP journalists reported hearing loud explosions in Baghdad on Saturday night. Witnesses near the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the US embassy, saw air defences in action.
A security official said, “Four rockets were launched toward the embassy. Air defences intercepted three, while one landed in an open area within the embassy’s airbase.” Two other sources confirmed that all rockets were ultimately downed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered security forces to track down those responsible, condemning the strike as “an act that cannot be justified or accepted under any circumstances.”
Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, has tried to avoid being drawn into the wider regional conflict but has nonetheless been targeted. US and Israeli strikes against Iran-backed groups have prompted retaliatory attacks on US bases, airports, and oil facilities across Iraq.
In the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, drone and rocket attacks have also been reported, including near the US consulate in Erbil, where loud explosions were heard late Saturday.
Meanwhile, airstrikes hit former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi bases in Nineveh province, killing one fighter and injuring three. The PMF, integrated into Iraq’s army and including several Iran-backed factions, frequently operates independently and has been targeted multiple times since the war began.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have struck “separatist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan, warning that Tehran would act if militants crossed the border. Iraqi authorities and the Kurdish regional government stressed that Iraq must not serve as a launchpad for attacks on neighboring countries.
AFP
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