Air defenses intercepted rockets fired at US embassy in Baghdad, sources say

Air defense systems intercepted rockets fired at the US embassy in Baghdad tonight, security sources tell AFP.

It was the first such attack on the embassy in Baghdad since the start of the war in the Middle East, triggered by a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, into which Iraq has been dragged.

Loud bangs were heard on Saturday night in Baghdad, AFP journalists report, with a witness near the fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy, reporting seeing air defenses activated over the area.

“Four rockets were launched… toward the embassy,” a security official says, adding that air defenses intercepted three, while one fell in an open area in the embassy’s airbase.

Two other security sources confirm the attack, with one saying that all rockets were downed, including the one that fell in the airbase.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani says he ordered security forces to find the perpetrators of “the terrorist act” against the US embassy.

He says that “targeting diplomatic missions and embassies operating in Iraq is an act that cannot be justified or accepted under any circumstances.”