The US Embassy in Baghdad said an explosion at the city’s airport was an attack on an American diplomatic compound, but nobody was killed or injured in the incident. The attack happened just hours after Iran’s new President, Masoud Pezeshkian, had arrived for a three-day visit – his first international trip since taking office in July.
In a press statement, the US embassy said, “We are assessing the damage and its cause.” Major General Tahseen Al Khafaji, a spokesperson for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, added that Iraqi intelligence services had not yet established the reason for the explosion or who was responsible.
The attack is the latest in a series aimed at US facilities across the region. In July, an Iranian-backed militia group launched two armed drones at the Al-Asad airbase, but US forces were able to shoot one of them down before impact, while the other caused “minimal damage.” Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters she could confirm the identity of the group involved.
Weeks later, in early August, the Al-Asad base came under attack again. Two Katyusha rockets landed inside the base, wounding at least five US service members. An insider, who wished to remain anonymous, said one of the five suffered significant injury. The identity of the attackers was once again unknown, but speculation at the time suggested it was linked to the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh died at a military guesthouse during a visit to the Iranian capital, Tehran, on July 31. Iranian leaders immediately blamed Israel and vowed bloody revenge against the Jewish state. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the “terrorist Zionist regime” had “prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself.”
Subsequent media reports indicated that Israel did carry out the assassination and did so by placing an explosive device under the senior Hamas leader’s bed. It was placed by two Iranians recruited by Israel’s intelligence services, Mossad. The operatives were part of the Ansar al-Mahdi security unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for ensuring Haniyeh’s safety. They were recorded on CCTV hurriedly entering his room prior to the explosion.
