The skies above Baghdad lit up early on Tuesday (March 17) when a barrage of drones and missiles descended on the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, media said, citing Iraqi security, who described it as the wildest such attack since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28.
At least five drones were used in the intervention. A powerful explosion reverberated throughout the city, witnessed by a Reuters reporter on the ground.
It is the second time in three days that the US embassy in Baghdad has been hit by drones. Two Iraqi security officials said on March 14 that a missile had hit a heliport on the grounds of the US embassy in Baghdad, and footage from the Associated Press showed smoke rising above the embassy on Saturday morning.
Watch Scary Visuals of Drone Strike on US Embassy in Iraq
Iraq’s Green Zone on Fire: Hotel Hit, Embassy Targeted
Just hours before Tuesday morning’s attack, the violence was announced with chilling clarity. On Monday evening, a drone struck the roof of the al-Rasheed Hotel – a luxury establishment inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, frequented by foreign diplomats and home to several diplomatic missions.
Iraq’s interior ministry initially described the incident as a “projectile” before clarifying that it was actually a drone. Authorities confirmed that there were no casualties or material damage.
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Moments later, the situation escalated. A loud explosion was heard across Baghdad as air defense systems launched an incoming attack targeting the US embassy, which is located in the same perimeter of the Green Zone.
A security official confirmed to AFP that “air defense foiled the attack with four missiles” aimed at the diplomatic building. Firefighters and ambulances were dispatched to the scene, and the street leading to the hotel was cordoned off by a large security service.
The strikes also hit oil fields in southern Iraq and the border region in the west, signaling a deliberate, coordinated campaign across multiple targets.
Iraq’s prime minister vows to hunt down the perpetrators
The Iraqi government responded with unequivocal anger. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who also serves as the supreme commander of the armed forces, condemned the incidents as “terrorist attacks” and ordered security forces to intervene immediately.
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“Track down and arrest the perpetrators of these acts and immediately bring them to justice so that they receive the punishment they deserve,” al-Sudani instructed, according to a statement by his spokesman Sabah al-Numan.
The statement left no room for ambiguity about the stakes: “These criminal acts have grave consequences for our country and undermine the government’s efforts to rebuild and prosper.”
Senior Kataeb Hezbollah commander killed — Then the attacks began
The timing of the attack was not lost on analysts. Shortly before the strikes began, the powerful Tehran-backed militant group Kataeb Hezbollah announced the death of its senior security commander, Abu Ali al-Askari, a figure who also served as the group’s main public voice, responsible for issuing all key statements on its behalf. The group offered no details on how or when he was killed.
A security official subsequently told AFP that Askari was the same person as Abu Ali al-Amiri, who was killed the previous Saturday in an attack on Baghdad. The connection between his death and the subsequent wave of attacks was left implicit – but hard to ignore.
It also hit oil fields and paramilitary forces
The violence spread far beyond the capital. Two drones targeted the southern Majnoon oil field – a facility that has already suspended production – with one drone hitting a telecommunications tower and the other hitting the offices of a US firm operating at the site, a security official said.
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In a separate incident near the Syrian border in western Iraq, airstrikes killed eight fighters from Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, a former paramilitary coalition now formally integrated into Iraq’s regular army. Al-Numan, the prime minister’s military spokesman, did not hold back in his assessment of the attack.
“It is a blatant aggression against the sovereignty of the state,” he said, calling the targeting of “an official force that operates under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces” an insult that cannot go unanswered.
