Rockets fall near US forces close to Baghdad airport, reports say

Two rockets fell near US forces stationed close to Baghdad International Airport early on Wednesday, reports said, increasing tension before a visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iraq’s security media cell said in a statement that an explosion was heard at 11pm at the airport, in an area used by advisers to the US-led international coalition, AP reported.
The statement said Iraqi security forces were unable to determine the “type or causes of the explosion, and no party has claimed responsibility for it”. It said the incident was under investigation and civilian air traffic continued as normal.
The attack, which was launched against the Camp Victory base, caused material damage but no casualties, Reuters reported. One of the rockets was aimed at the US embassy logistics centre at the airport, Sky News Arabia reported.
Iran-backed armed group Kataib Hezbollah denied involvement and said that the attack on Baghdad’s airport at this time was clearly aimed at disrupting a visit by Mr Pezeshkian, set to begin on Wednesday. It will be the President’s first trip abroad since he was elected in early July.
In a statement, Kataib Hezbollah, which has been behind previous attacks on US interests in Iraq, called on Iraqi security forces to investigate and determine who was behind the attack.
An Iraqi security official at the airport told AP that officials who were at the airport preparing for Mr Pezeshkian’s visit heard “the sound of two strong strikes”.
Iran-backed armed forces in Iraq declared at the end of August that the informal truce with US forces stationed in Iraq, which had been meant to give Baghdad time to negotiate the withdrawal of American troops from the country, had ended.
Washington had long been in talks with Baghdad about the end of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition presence in Iraq, over the course of a years-long pullout.
But while a timeline is being finalised, American officials say the US military presence in Iraq will not change, continuing joint efforts to crack down on extremists.
Attacks on US troops and interests in the Middle East soared after the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7 last year. US bases in Iraq and Syria have come under attack dozens of times by Iran-backed groups while Yemen’s Houthis have attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea.