Explosion Reported at US Military Facility Near Baghdad Airport Ahead of Iranian President's Visit
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaks in defense of his cabinet selection at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, August 21, 2024.
AP
11:38 JST, September 11, 2024
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi security officials said an explosion targeted a site used by the U.S. military next to Baghdad airport late Tuesday, one day before an expected visit by Iran’s president.
The expected visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Baghdad Wednesday would be his first official trip abroad since taking office.
- Iraq’s security media cell said in a statement that an explosion was heard at 11 p.m. at the airport, in an area used by advisers to the U.S.-led international coalition.
There was no immediate information on damages or casualties.
U.S. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An Iraqi security official at the airport, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said that officials who were at the airport preparing for Pezeshkian’s visit heard “the sound of two strong strikes,” which apparently targeted a logistics support site for the coalition.
Over the past 11 months, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have periodically targeted bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and have said that the strikes were in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza.
- One of those militias, Kataib Hezbollah, appeared to be trying to distance itself from Tuesday night’s strike.
Jaafar al-Husseini, the group’s spokesperson, said in a statement that the targeting of the airport was “carried out by suspicious hands, and its aim is to disrupt the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad.”
A News
17 minutes ago
Updated: 11 September ,2024: 02:44 PM GST
Security sources told Reuters two rockets had fallen at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday near US forces stationed near Baghdad airport at the Camp Victory base.
“At approximately 23:00 on Tuesday, September 10, there was an attack at the Baghdad Diplomatic Services Compound, a US diplomatic facility,” the US embassy statement said.
“Fortunately, there are no reported casualties, and we are assessing the damage and its cause. Our assessment is ongoing,” it said.
- The group called on Iraqi security forces in a statement issued early on Wednesday to investigate the attack and to determine who was responsible.
Pezeshkian, on his first foreign trip since being elected in July, is expected to sign a number of bilateral agreements with Baghdad and to discuss the Gaza war and the wider situation in the Middle East with Iraqi leaders.
- Iraq, a rare regional partner of both the United States and Iran, hosts 2,500 US troops and also has Iran-backed armed factions linked to its security forces.
- Iran-aligned armed groups in Iraq have repeatedly attacked US troops in the Middle East since the Gaza war began.
'Suspicious' attack hits US outpost at Baghdad airport ahead of Iranian president's visit
A spokesman for the Kataib Hezbollah resistance group said the attack aimed to ‘disrupt’ the Iranian president’s visit to Iraq
SEP 11, 2024
The US embassy’s logistical support center at Baghdad International Airport came under attack late on 10 September.
“The shelling, the nature of which has not yet been determined, whether by missiles or mortar shells, took place near the US embassy’s logistical support headquarters at Baghdad airport,” an Iraqi security source told Sputnik.
He added, “There is no information about human losses so far.”
“The strike, which may have involved rockets or mortars, also impacted areas near the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorism Agency,” a security source told Shafaq news agency on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s attack on the logistical center at Baghdad airport came hours before Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Iraq.
Pezeshkian met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid on 11 September.
A spokesperson for the Kataib Hezbollah resistance faction, Jaafar al-Husseini, described the attack’s timing as “suspicious.”
“Those behind the attack on Baghdad airport at this particular time have suspicious motives. The aim is to disrupt the visit of the Iranian president to Baghdad,” Husseini said, calling on Iraqi security forces to “expose those responsible.”
Pezeshkian met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid on 11 September.
A spokesperson for the Kataib Hezbollah resistance faction, Jaafar al-Husseini, described the attack’s timing as “suspicious.”
“Those behind the attack on Baghdad airport at this particular time have suspicious motives. The aim is to disrupt the visit of the Iranian president to Baghdad,” Husseini said, calling on Iraqi security forces to “expose those responsible.”
Iraqi resistance factions banded together after the start of the war in Gaza in October, forming a coalition dubbed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).
- These groups started carrying out drone and rocket attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria, both in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and to pressure US forces present in Iraq.
- The Iraqi operations were officially halted in January after a drone attack killed three US soldiers on the Jordan–Syria border.
- Iran also reportedly played a role in pressuring the Iraqi resistance to de-escalate.
- A drone attack on the Kharab al-Jir base in northeastern Syria injured several US and coalition personnel on 10 August. US bases in Iraq and Syria also witnessed a few attacks in late July.
Washington has shown no intention of withdrawing its forces from Iraq.
- The negotiations themselves have not touched on an actual pullout of US forces but instead an end to the combat role of the US coalition operating in Iraq.
- This would see their presence transition into an advisory one, and US forces would remain in Iraq to coordinate with Baghdad on “security” matters.
The Cradle’s Iraq correspondent rejected the report as untrue.
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