Drone attack targets US embassy in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: A drone and rocket attack targeted the US embassy in Baghdad early on Tuesday, while a strike killed four people at a house reportedly hosting Iranian advisers, security officials said, pulling Iraq deeper into the Middle East war. A journalist reported seeing black smoke rising after an explosion in the embassy complex, as well as air defences intercepting another drone. The strikes came hours after air defences thwarted a rocket attack at the embassy and a drone sparked a fire at a luxury hotel frequented by foreign diplomats in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
Iraq was drawn into the Middle East war after having long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, with strikes targeting Iran-backed groups that have claimed daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region. Meanwhile, a strike on a house in Baghdad killed four people early on Tuesday, with initial reports suggesting that two of the dead were 'Iranian advisers' to Tehran-backed groups, a security source said.
Another source from an Iran-backed faction confirmed that four people were killed in the strike on a house hosting Iranian advisers in Al Jadiriyah neighbourhood. Iraq's interior ministry initially said that a 'projectile' fell on the roof of the luxury Al Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, before clarifying that it was a drone. It did not specify whether the building itself was the target. 'The incident caused no casualties or material damage,'it added. — AFP