The United States condemned this Friday the attack against its embassy in Baghdad, where an unidentified group launched a barrage of rockets that hit near the building without causing victims or material damage, and warned of its right to self-defense.

“The Iraqi Government has repeatedly committed to protecting diplomatic missions, as well as US military personnel, who are present in the country at the invitation of Iraq. “This is non-negotiable, and neither is our right to self-defense,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Security sources informed EFE that at least five rockets hit the vicinity of the US legation, located in the fortified Green Zone, amid a spike in attacks against US targets in Iraq coinciding with the war in Gaza.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the amalgamation of pro-Iran militias Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for around eighty actions against facilities with a US presence in Iraq and Syria since the conflict broke out in Gaza on October 7.

It is the first attack against American targets in Baghdad after the start of hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which have provoked the response of Iraqi militias backed by Iran against Washington for its “unwavering support” for the Jewish State in the war. in Gaza.

“terrorist act”

For its part, the Government of Iraq described this Friday's attack against the United States Embassy as a “terrorist act.”. “Attacking any foreign mission or diplomatic headquarters is a terrorist crime that exposes the perpetrator to maximum penalties,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani said during a meeting with senior officials of the Iraqi Armed Forces, according to a statement released by his office.

Al Sudani reiterated his Government's commitment to “protect all diplomatic missions” and noted that “it will never give in when it comes to confronting outlaws who endanger Iraq's security and damage its reputation.”

Likewise, he indicated that investigations are being carried out to “identify the elements that are altering the security and stability of the country” and bring them to justice, while he also asked to open an investigation against the security forces in charge of monitoring the area from where attacks were launched.

Iraq's pro-Iran militias are part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, a loose anti-Israel alliance led by Iran and made up of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels, among others.

They are also represented in the pro-government militia group Popular Multitude, which collaborated with the US in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group between 2014 and 2017, and they also have a political arm that is the majority in the Iraqi Parliament.

However, several of these Iraqi groups are considered “terrorists” by Washington, which since the outbreak of the war in Gaza has killed more than a dozen militants in two separate attacks in Iraq in response to the launch of rockets against facilities with presence US.