The United States Embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, was struck by a missile on Saturday, sending smoke rising from the embassy compound, according to security sources.
The attack damaged part of the embassy’s air defence system, though no further details were immediately available.
Two security officials also confirmed to The Associated Press that a missile hit a helipad located inside the US Embassy compound.
According to the officials, the projectile landed within the embassy’s boundaries in the Green Zone, a heavily fortified district in central Baghdad that houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign diplomatic missions. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
There was no immediate comment from the United States Embassy in Baghdad.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show smoke rising from the embassy compound shortly after the strike.
Speaking from Baghdad, Mahmoud Abdelwahed reported that authorities had not yet confirmed whether there were any casualties or the full extent of the damage.
“But we understand that Iran-aligned armed groups in Iraq have always pledged to attack US facilities, especially the embassy,” he said, adding that they want to avenge the death of Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader, who was assassinated, along with family members, in a US-Israeli air strike at the beginning of the war.
“In fact, yesterday they issued a statement offering $100,000 as a reward to anyone who provides information leading to any US diplomatic personnel inside the country,” our correspondent said, adding that some of the personnel were “taking shelter in civilian houses”.
Saturday’s strike marks the second attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad since the start of the war.
On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned armed groups had previously carried out attacks against US citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them”.
The sprawling diplomatic compound, one of the largest US embassies in the world, has been repeatedly targeted in the past by rockets and drones.
Several Tehran-backed armed factions operating under an umbrella network known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have claimed responsibility for frequent drone and rocket attacks against US bases in the region.
Since the start of the war, several strikes against members of those groups across Iraq have been attributed to the United States and Israel.
Saturday’s attack came shortly after two separate strikes targeted the powerful Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, killing two of its members, including what security sources described to Agence France-Presse as a “key figure”.
Iraq has increasingly become a battleground for retaliatory strikes, with Iran and its allied militias targeting US bases while the United States has carried out attacks on pro-Iranian armed groups.
Long viewed as a proxy arena between Washington and Tehran, Iraq was rapidly drawn deeper into the wider regional conflict after US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
