Tensions Are At An All Time High As Two Missiles Hit Green Zone In Baghdad

Just 24 hours after Iran carried out an attack involving 15 missiles Tehran that was fired at the US targets in Iraq, two more rockets landed into Baghdad's Green Zone, where foreign embassies are based. The Green Zone area in the Iraqi capital is a high-security enclave that also includes the US embassy. 

AFP correspondents based in Baghdad heard two loud blasts, that were followed by the wailing security sirens of the Green Zone, just before midnight. 

This attack comes as retaliation for the drone strikes on the Baghdad international airport that resulted in the killing of Iraq's top commander Qasem Soleimani and important military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. 

Soleimani was regarded as a war hero and seen as a potential future leader of Iraq. His killing resulted in a streak of backlash by Iraq in the form of airstrikes on the US targets within the country. 

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was the deputy head of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a web of armed groups incorporated into the Iraqi state but also has close ties to Tehran.

This group, on Wednesday, vowed revenge on the US military forces. 

Paramilitary chief Qais al-Khazali, who is blacklisted as a “terrorist” by the US, said Iraq’s response to the US “will be no less than the size of the Iranian response.”

“To American soldiers: Do not close your eyes. Revenge for the martyr Muhandis is coming at the hands of Iraqis -- until the last soldier among you leaves,” said Harakat al-Nujaba, a Hashed faction.