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Dozens of Iraqi militiamen and their supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad on Tuesday to vent their rage over deadly U.S. airstrikes against the Iranian-backed force.
Guards lobbed tear gas and opened fire to quell the unrest, which was quickly contained, though dozens of protesters remained encamped in tents outside the compound. The U.S. ambassador and the diplomatic corps were evacuated two days ago, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The actual embassy building was not attacked, he said.
Mourners marching in front of #US Embasdy in Baghdad and they have decided to setup protest tents there. They protest against US attacks on KH bases in Anbar #Iraq #PMF #KataibHezbollah pic.twitter.com/dv48YTBEkW
— Farhad Alaaldin (@farhad965) December 31, 2019
PRESSTV EXCLUSIVE:
Video shows the moment that Iraqi protesters storm U.S. embassy in #Baghdad pic.twitter.com/gLOxV3WBNK
— Press TV đź”» (@PressTV) December 31, 2019
https://twitter.com/NewsBreaking/status/1211963137265680384?s=20
President Donald Trump swiftly blamed Tehran for the embassy assault, and for the killing of an American contractor in Iraq that precipitated Sunday’s airstrikes against the Kataieb Hezbollah militia bases.
The rare direct U.S. assault on an Iranian proxy on Sunday claimed the lives of 25 fighters and came at an especially tense time and held the potential for escalation.
The U.S. and Iran are locked in a standoff over the Trump administration’s crippling economic offensive against Tehran — meant to force it to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal Washington abandoned — and the Islamic Republic’s suspected reprisals.
The mob streamed into the embassy complex after climbing over blast walls and smashing down the outer gate and a guardpost with hammers, according to televised footage. Black smoke billowed from tires the protesters set on fire. Dozens of protesters were hurt, some shot, others suffering from tear gas inhalation, according to a statement from the umbrella group to which Kataieb Hezbollah belongs.
Most of the protesters wore militia uniforms. Some hoisted militia flags as the crowd demanded that the embassy be shuttered and the ambassador expelled. “The embassy is closed by the order of the people,” someone scrawled on the blast walls. Other people spray-painted the word “resistance” on the barriers, and one protester was seen holding a headscarf with the image of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi reiterated his denunciation of the U.S. raid on Tuesday but called on protesters to leave the compound, threatening severe penalties for attacks on the mission.
Earlier Tuesday, militia members and their supporters marched near the embassy carrying the coffins of fighters killed in the raid. Thousands gathered not far from the mission, some shouting, “No, no to Israel. No, no to the U.S.”
