Explosion at Baghdad base before Iranian president’s visit
Military vehicles of U.S. soldiers are seen at the al-Asad air base in Anbar province, Iraq, January 13, 2020 (Reuters Photo)
Iraqi security forces said an explosion was heard at a U.S.-led coalition’s military base at the Baghdad International Airport late Tuesday, a day before Iran’s president was due to visit.
“At 23:00 (8 p.m. GMT) an explosion was heard inside Baghdad International Airport in the area occupied by international coalition advisors,” according to a statement posted on social media platform X by the spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Tahseen Al Khafaji.
“Iraqi security forces were unable … to determine the origin of the explosion, which has not been claimed,” according to a statement from the Iraqi security forces, also reported by state news agency INA.
Air traffic was unaffected and no flights were interrupted, it added.
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “two Katyusha-type rockets” had caused the explosion.
The official reported that one explosion landed on the wall of the Iraqi anti-terrorist forces compound, while the second occurred inside the U.S.-led coalition’s military base.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was expected in Iraq on Wednesday in his first trip abroad since taking office in July.
Relations between Iran and Iraq, both Shiite-majority countries, have grown closer over the past two decades.
Tehran is one of Iraq’s leading trade partners and wields considerable political influence in Baghdad where its Iraqi allies dominate parliament and the current government.
A spokesperson for the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) armed group in Iraq slammed what he called “an attack” that aimed to “disrupt the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad”.
In a post on X, the spokesperson Jaafar al-Husseini called on the Iraqi security services to identify the perpetrators.
Over the past year, U.S.-led coalition forces have been targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire in both Iraq and Syria as violence related to Israel’s war in Gaza has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.
U.S. forces have carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against these groups in both countries.
To defuse the situation and spare Iraq from the fallout of regional tensions, the United States and Iraq have been negotiating a phased pull-out of the U.S.-led coalition forces against Daesh.
The United States has deployed around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against Daesh.
Iraqi security forces say they are capable of tackling Daesh remnants unassisted, as the group poses no significant threat.
