Last night, two rockets struck the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The heavily fortified area houses some of the main Iraqi government offices and the US embassy. There were no immediate reports about casualties. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier, Saraya Thorat Al-Ashrin Al-Thani, one of Iraq’s many anti-US groups, which have surfaced since the start of the year, released two videos claiming that these show attacks on convoys carried out using US equipment. According to the group, the attacks took place on May 20 and June 6. The impact of the attacks remains unclear.
Military bases housing US troops across Iraq and the U.S. embassy have frequently been targeted by mortar and rocket attacks over the post months. According to US officials, most of these have been carried out by Iranian-backed forces.
Iraqi-U.S. relations have been witnessing tensions since January 3 when a US drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, killing Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces. This attack escalated tensions in the region and led to a large-scale Iranian missile attack on US military bases in Iraq. The Iraqi Parliament also demanded that the US withdraw its troops from the country. Washington rejected the demand and threatened Iraq with sanctions if it is forced to withdraw its forces.
On June 11, US and Iraqi officials will be holding another meeting to discuss the current state of Iraqi-US relations and the issue of US troop withdrawal from the country. However, it remains highly unlikely that Washington will back down from its de-facto occupation of the country.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces continue their anti-ISIS raids in eastern Homs and southern Raqqah in central Syria. According to pro-government sources, over 10 ISIS members have been neutralized in the framework of these efforts since the start of the month.
On June 10, a unit of the Syrian Army and pro-government locals blocked a US military convoy and forced it to retreat near the village of Dardara in the province of Hasakah. Separately, a US military patrol was blocked by the Russian Military Police near Qamishli. At least one US vehicle broke down when it went off road to bypass the Russians.
Not to be too terribly flippant: but why not invite Antifa and BLM to come demonstrate outside of US bases?…. yeah, black lives matter in Iraq, too!!!
I think that it a fantastic idea! It occurred to me that while the USA exports military force, they are hand tied when it comes using such force within their own country. An excellent solution would be to ship exporters to MENA and put them to work. They can feel as though they are doing so much more in an area where innocents get killed at ten times the rate they do in the USA. It’s easy enough to ship Somalis and Congolese to the USA so it will be easier to ship protester abroad! Heck, if they are willing to sign a waiver, they can get their very own M4 and a few mags so they can put their mortality where there mouths is!!!
“Bleed the Beast!” appears to be the rallying cry all across the region these days. The empire’s “an Iranian boogeyman under every bed” routine is getting more than a little threadbare at this point. Even the few Americans who actually pay attention to these things are getting tired of hearing it now. I can only wonder at how bad troop morale must be by now. Worse, I can only wonder how these people will ever fit back into society – even one as sick as ours – after being fed into the meat grinder for so long. Unconscionable shite going on in our names.
The only thing that’s keeping US troops in Iraq and Syria is inertia. Once the real war with Iran, China, and Russia starts, those few troops will be re-deployed, maybe to Israel or maybe to the USA to put down the upcoming food riots. In any case, the Anglo-Zionist Empire is done for. Simple as that.
Mr. Turmp you must have read the last 2000 years of history along with the Three Bears and understand why empires fail. It is when hubris surpasses reason the empire crumbles and you, sir are the master of hubris.
”On June 11, US and Iraqi officials will be holding another meeting to discuss the current state of Iraqi-US relations and the issue of US troop withdrawal from the country. However, it remains highly unlikely that Washington will back down from its de-facto occupation of the country.”
According to Pindo doctrine, troop withdrawal is utterly incompatible with MAGA. Even a silly clown such as Trump understands that very well indeed, to say nothing about evil, rotten filth such as Ledeen and Pompeo. The Pindos will have to be evicted at gunpoint; simple as that.
Agreed. Where has the US military left willingly where it once fought?
Nowhere. They stay until blown up and bled out.
In the ME and NA, that history is most clear. It leaves in body bags and caskets. Or it stays perpetually.
Iraq has the explosive techniques to cost the Americans grave losses without ever getting into open warfare with the occupier.
Exit by IED and Missiles will be the likely outcome.
One theory may be that the military wants to hang the disaster around the neck of Trump. They resist his orders to withdraw. So, if they must leave, they will create a political disaster (Americans do not want to see their sons and fathers coming home dead in shameful disastrous bombings.) They did that in Somalia with Clinton. They did that with Carter in the Iranian desert.
Never forget, the enemy the US faces in Iraq are sometimes proxies the US has used, paid, trained and armed. It is ironic, those forces could be the enemy that cause the ignominious exit of US military.
that’s good. Keep hitting the imperial oppressor.
Attacking while Uncle Scam/AZ Empire is distracted can be a good move.
On the other hand, it risks uniting the American people around a “Moslem boogeyman.”
As someone in another thread (or was it another website?) suggested, perhaps a subtle deal can be worked out where Trump sends “Black Lives Matter” hooligans to Iraq & Syria, in exchange for withdrawing US troops from the Middle East?