Trouble has once again been looming in the Middle East in the early goings of 2020, with Iran and Iraq both playing significant roles in the ruckus.
It all began on New Year’s Day, when an Iranian-backed militia helped to organize and execute a siege on the American embassy in Baghdad. While these mischief-makers were unable to breach the secure facility in full, enough damage was caused to indefinitely suspend the operations the US consulate.
In the ensuing days, the United States conducted an airstrike that killed Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani – one of the most senior members of the regime’s command, and a man known the world over for embracing the tenets of terrorism in his work.
Shortly after Soleimani’s death, Iran launched 15 ballistic missiles toward sleeping American troops stationed in Iraq, but avoided any casualties in what many believe was a purposeful miss.
Now, the US Embassy in Iraq is under attack again, this time taking rocket fire several weeks after the ballistic missile blitz earlier this month.
Three rockets slammed into the US embassy in Iraq’s capital on Sunday in the first direct hit reported after months of close calls, as thousands of protesters kept up anti-government sit-ins across the country.
The attack marked a dangerous escalation in the spree of rocket attacks in recent months that have targeted the embassy or Iraqi military bases where American troops are deployed.
None of the attacks has been claimed but Washington has repeatedly blamed Iran-backed military factions in Iraq.
On Sunday, one rocket hit an embassy cafeteria at dinner time while two others landed nearby, a security source told AFP.
Iran has been treading on thin international ice as of late, after the nation “unintentionally” downed a Ukrainian passenger plane in the midst of their missile attack earlier in January.
Should they be found responsible for this aggression as well, there are likely to be severe consequences for the Persian nation.
