Several rockets hit ‘100 meters away’ from US embassy, cause fire in Baghdad’s Green Zone

Two blasts have reportedly been heard in Baghdad, followed by the sirens of emergency services. The apparent explosions come hours after US President Donald Trump walked back from military action against Iran.

Air raid sirens can be heard in video footage presumably captured in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday night. Multiple journalists in the city reported that two explosions rang out, apparently coming from the direction of the heavily-fortified ‘Green Zone,’ home to the US embassy.

Iraq’s military said that “two Katyusha rockets fell inside the Green Zone without causing casualties.” Police sources told Reuters that the rockets came within 100 meters of the US embassy, and caused a fire.

The Green Zone was besieged by protesters last week, following an American strike on an Iraqi Shia militia group near the Syrian border that killed at least 25 fighters. Days later the US assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad airport, driving the US and Iran to the brink of war.

Following a retaliatory missile attack on two American bases in the early hours of Wednesday morning, tensions simmered back down later in the day as US President Donald Trump opted not to respond with force.

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