The U.S. Department of State said Friday that its diplomatic mission in Baghdad is under “ordered departure” and called on the Iraqi government to take urgent measures to protect U.S. personnel and diplomatic facilities in the country.
This week saw an escalation in drone and rocket attacks targeting sites housing U.S. forces and interests, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, amid fears the country could slide into an open confrontation between Washington and Iran-backed armed factions.
A State Department spokesperson told Alhurra that “our mission in Iraq remains under ordered departure,” adding that it is continuing to “review all needed actions to promote the safety of U.S. government personnel and facilities in Iraq.”
The spokesperson added that “the Iraqi government must urgently take all measures to safeguard U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities and ensure terrorist militias cannot use Iraqi territory to threaten the United States or the region.”
He said the State Department “strongly condemns the widespread attacks by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias against U.S. citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities.”
The State Department’s remarks came in response to inquiries sent by Alhurra regarding information it obtained from Shiite political sources about a suspension of attacks by the factions following efforts led by the Iraqi government, supported by influential parties within the Shiite Coordination Framework.
As of Thursday evening, the details and outcomes of those efforts remained unclear, although three sources within the Iraqi government and the Coordination Framework told Alhurra there was a joint commitment to halt targeting.
These developments coincided with a surprise move announced Wednesday by “Kataib Hezbollah” in Iraq, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, to suspend its attacks on the U.S. Embassy for five days under certain conditions.
The conditions outlined by the Iran-aligned faction included “a U.S. commitment not to strike residential areas in Baghdad and other provinces.”
“Kataib Hezbollah” and the “Nujaba Movement” are among the most prominent factions targeting U.S. interests, and they have entered the line of the U.S.-Israeli war that began on Feb. 28 alongside Iran, carrying out dozens of strikes inside and outside Iraq.
Since Wednesday night, scenes of drones that had been flying over the airspace of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad have disappeared, amid attempts by the diplomatic mission’s air defense system to shoot them down.
This followed a shift in the nature of attacks targeting Iran-aligned armed factions in Iraq.
At the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, several sites belonging to those factions across Iraq were struck by airstrikes of unknown origin. However, over the past week and early this week, those strikes began targeting first- and second-tier leaders as well as Iranian advisers, according to Alhurra sources.
Alhurra reported Tuesday that Iranian advisers were killed in Iraq in an airstrike that targeted a house in the Jadriya area of Baghdad. Earlier, according to preliminary information, the secretary-general of “Kataib Hezbollah,” Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, survived a U.S. strike that targeted him on March 14 in the Arsat area in central Baghdad.
Neither the United States nor Israel has claimed responsibility for any of these attacks. However, a U.S. defense official told Alhurra on March 9 that U.S. forces had carried out strikes in Iraq since the launch of Operation “Epic Rage” on Feb. 28 “to protect its personnel from attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups targeting its bases.”
The article is a translation of the original Arabic.
Ghassan Taqi
A journalist specializing in Iraqi affairs, he has worked with the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) since 2015. He previously spent several years with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as well as various Iraqi and Arab media outlets.
