Protesters outside US Iraq embassy in Baghdad rage against air strikes

BAGHDAD: Tear gas was fired towards Iraqi demonstrators in an effort to push them back from the US embassy in Baghdad, AFP reported on Tuesday. Thousands of protesters and militia fighters have gathered outside the main gate of the US embassy compound in Baghdad to condemn air strikes on bases belonging to an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.The Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi asked the protesters to immediately leave from in front of the embassy. The Minister of Defense Najah Al-Shammari and other officials arrived near the area earlier, Al-Arabiya said.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that the Iraqi government needs to protect the embassy and blamed Iran for the attacks.Meanwhile, Al-Najba movement militias demand foreign forces leave Iraq and Al-Hashd movement remained outside the embassy despite security forces requests to leave. Reports say Al-Hashd movement allies set a security point near the area on fire. Al-Arabiya reported that some of the protesters broke into an observation tower near the embassy.

The US ambassador and other staff have been evacuated from the embassy, two Iraqi Foreign Ministry officials told Reuters on Tuesday.The ambassador and staff left out of security concerns. One official said a few embassy protection staff remained. The protests follow air strikes by US forces carried out on Sunday against the Kataeb Hezbollah militia in response to the killing of a US civilian contractor in a missile attack on an Iraqi military base.

The strikes risk drawing Iraq further into a proxy conflict between the US and Iran at a time when it is being rocked by mass protests against the political system. Protesters threw stones at the complex while others chanted, “No, no, America... No, no, Trump” Iraqi special forces were deployed around the main gate to prevent them entering the embassy. Qais Al-Khazali, leader of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl Al-Haq militia, and many other senior militia leaders were among the protesters. Kataeb Hezbollah flags were hung on the fence surrounding the building. Iraqis are taking to the streets in their thousands almost daily to condemn, among other things, militias such as Kataeb Hezbollah and their Iranian patrons that support Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government. Abdul Mahdi condemned the strikes, which killed at least 25 fighters and wounded 55.