Iran–Iraq relations

A volley of rockets exploded near the US embassy in Baghdad Sunday, as tensions mount ahead of the anniversary of the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on Iraqi soil.

AFP reporters in the capital's east heard at least five booms on Sunday night, followed by whistling sounds.

The United States said on June 11 it would reduce troops in Iraq in the coming months as friction between the two countries eased under a new U.S.-friendly premier in Baghdad.

The United States also promised support to prop up the struggling Iraqi economy as the two nations held their first strategic dialogue in more than a decade.

At least five katyusha rockets landed in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Iraq's capital, some of which directly struck the U.S. embassy, caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi said early on Jan. 27.

A military base in Iraq with US troops was attacked once again. There were no casualties, world agencies reported, citing a communique by Iraqi armed forces.

Today, Katyusha rockets targeted the Taji military camp, located north of Baghdad.

The incidents come amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran .

At least eight fighters of the pro-Iranian paramilitary Hashd al-Shaabi have been killed in eastern Syria, the Observatory said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the planes targeted positions belonging to pro-Iranian militias in the Boukamal area, near the border with Iraq.

The Middle East has once again become the focus of the whole world since Jan. 3, 2020.

Two rockets hit near the U.S. embassy in Iraq's capital on Jan. 5, witnesses told AFP, hours after the ambassador was summoned over a U.S. strike that killed top Iraqi and Iranian commanders.     

Jan. 5's attack was the second night in a row that the Green Zone was hit and the 14th time over the last two months that U.S. installations have been targeted.  

Turkey called on all parties to act with common sense and avoid steps that will fuel tension, the presidential spokesman said on Jan. 3 amid the fresh U.S.-Iran row.

Thousands more U.S. troops were ordered to the Middle East on Jan. 3 after the United States assassinated Iran's military mastermind and Tehran promised "severe revenge."    

President Donald Trump said top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was "terminated" when he was on the verge of attacking U.S. diplomats but he insisted that Washington is not seeking to topple Iran's government.

The Iraqi military and the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIL said on Jan. 4 it did not conduct any airstrikes near Camp Taji north of Baghdad.

Earlier on Jan. 4, Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of paramilitary groups said airstrikes near camp Taji had killed six people and critically wounded three.

Iraqi state television had said they were U.S. airstrikes.