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01 January, 2020
By SJA Jafri + Agencies
BAGHDAD/ TEHRAN: A large numbers of protesters have set up tents, announcing plans for an indefinite sit-in until the embassy is closed and the ambassador expelled from Iraq.
A few hours into the protest, tear gas was fired in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
The commander of Iraq’s Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, an offshoot of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), was among the protesters.
“Americans are unwanted in Iraq. They are a source of evil and we want them to leave,” Sheikh Qais al-Khazali said.
The protesters, according to AFP, have breached the outer wall of the high-security compound, prompting the American forces deployed inside to fire tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the crowds.
On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata’ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU.
Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.
Earlier, the US ambassador to Iraq and other staff were evacuated from their embassy in Baghdad for their safety on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said, as thousands of protesters thronged the gates in fury at US airstrikes in Iraq.
The two Iraqi foreign ministry officials did not say when the US ambassador or other staff had left but added that a few embassy protection staff remained, Reuters reported.
Thousands of angry protesters managed to reach the US diplomatic mission which is located in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, chanting ‘Death to America’ and burning US flags.
The protesters further held up signs calling for the US mission to be shut down and for the parliament to order US forces to leave Iraq.
“Parliament should oust US troops, or else we will,” one poster read.
Meanwhile, the United States said on Tuesday it is sending hundreds more troops to the Middle East after a mob of pro-Iranian demonstrators stormed its embassy compound in Iraq, setting fires and chanting “Death to America!”
Angered by US air strikes that killed two dozen paramilitary fighters on Sunday, hundreds of protesters spilled through checkpoints in the high-security Green Zone Tuesday, demanding the ouster of American troops from Iraq and voicing loyalty to a powerful Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the attack was “orchestrated by terrorists,” one of whom he named as Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis.
Muhandis has been identified as second-in-command of the Tehran-backed Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary group which includes Kataeb Hezbollah, the group that was targeted in the US air strikes.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement that around 750 troops from a rapid response unit of the 82nd Airborne Division are prepared to deploy over the next several days to the region.
“This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” he said.
The US had already flown a rapid response team of Marines into Baghdad to reinforce its embassy after the attack Tuesday, which left smoke and flames rising from the embassy entrance and further heightened tension between Tehran and Washington.
Esper’s announcement is the latest move by Washington to step up its defences in the region since US President Donald Trump in May 2018 pulled out of a multinational nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed crippling economic sanctions.
Furthermore, Trump blamed Tehran for the embassy attack and warned that it would face punishment if Americans are killed.
“Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities,” Trump said on Twitter.
“They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat,” wrote Trump, adding “Happy New Year!”
Just prior to Esper’s announcement a US official had told AFP that Washington had already deployed hundreds of American troops to Kuwait in response to the unrest, and they would likely to be sent on to Iraq.
“At least 500 members of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division have left Fort Bragg in the US, and up to 4,000 may ultimately be deployed,” the official said.
