Rockets hit near Baghdad airport — Iraqi military

BAGHDAD — Three rockets hit near Baghdad airport overnight without causing any damage, Iraq's security forces said on Tuesday, marking the fourth such attack in just over a week.

A statement from the Iraqi military said the Katyusha-type projectiles were fired from the southwestern edges of Baghdad, where security forces found more rockets set up on wooden platforms.

It follows a string of similar incidents, including a rocket attack on June 13 that hit an Iraqi base north of Baghdad where US-led coalition troops are based.

On June 8, two rockets struck the grounds of the Baghdad airport complex and an unguided rocket hit near the US embassy in Iraq's high-security Green Zone two days later.

Such attacks are rarely claimed, but Washington has blamed pro-Iran factions in Iraq, primarily Kataeb Hizbollah.

Since late 2019, more than 30 rocket attacks have targeted Iraqi installations hosting foreign diplomats or troops.

Tensions reached boiling point in January when the US killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis in a drone strike in Baghdad.

Outraged, Iraqi MPs voted to oust foreign troops while the US threatened to slap crippling sanctions on Baghdad.

In late March, the rhetoric calmed and the pace of rocket attacks significantly slowed — but it spiked again last week as the US and Iraq prepared for bilateral talks.

The strategic dialogue launched on June 11 aims to set a framework for the US troop presence in the country and to boost economic and cultural ties.

As part of the talks, Washington has already pledged to continue reducing in-country troop levels, which numbered about 5,200 last year.

Iraq, meanwhile, vowed to "protect the military personnel" operating on its territory as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh  group.