Patriot missile stops rocket attack on U.S. embassy in Baghdad

FPI / July 6, 2020

A Patriot missile battery intercepted a rocket targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Saturday, reports say.

The rocket fell inside the Green Zone, the center of the international presence in the Iraqi capital, Al Arabiya reported.

The U.S. government has blamed pro-Iranian militias for a series of rocket attacks on the embassy since October of last year.

Iran has been rocked by a series of explosions at several nuclear and military sites in recent weeks. On Thursday, Iran reported an "accident" at the Natanz nuclear complex in central Iran.

On Friday, the Kuwaiti-based Al-Jarida newspaper reported that Israel was responsible for the fire at Natanz.

Iran's nuclear body has claimed that it has discovered the cause of the incident, which came six days after an explosion near a military complex in Parchin area southeast of Teheran rocked the Iranian capital, but has not revealed what the cause was.

Over a dozen people were killed in another explosion last week at a medical center in Teheran. The explosion was blamed on a gas leak.

The rocket attack on Saturday took place after a number of rocket attacks near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other U.S. military sites in recent weeks.

In June, there were six rocket attacks on the U.S. Embassy, the airport and a base housing U.S. forces.

Two weeks ago, the Iraqi military said that its forces had raided a base in southern Baghdad used by militiamen suspected of firing rockets at foreign embassies in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and its international airport.

In late January, three out of five rockets that were fired directly hit the U.S. embassy. At least one person was wounded.

Free Press International