According to a correspondent with the Amman-based Al-Hadath news agency, at least 3 missiles were shot down by air defenses over the US embassy in the Green Zone, a fortified area of central Baghdad.
Video captured nearby shows air raid sirens roaring as the embassy's counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) system, modified from the US Navy's Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), engages the incoming targets.
Video shows C-Ram Air defenses respond to rocket attack on #US Embassy in #Baghdad, #Iraq.
— Blesa Shaways (@Bilesa_Shaweys) September 14, 2020
While sirens launched from the embassy. pic.twitter.com/WvOtjOwoaE
Breaking: U.S C-Ram system intercepting rockets launched most likely by Iranian backed militias in Iraq(affiliated Telegram groups were promising an attack tonight several hours ago). pic.twitter.com/1UPLuUxTQu
— Steven Nabil (@thestevennabil) September 14, 2020
Video of CRAM active over #Baghdad, #Iraq this evening. pic.twitter.com/22j56Krt5n
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) September 14, 2020
The US diplomatic hub in Iraq has come under increasing attack in 2020, after a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a central leader in Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, and Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force. The Green Zone was fortified during the US occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2011, when US forces waged a counterinsurgency war against Iraqi insurgent forces.
Hours earlier on Monday, US convoys transporting military equipment in al-Diwaniyah and Babylon Governorate came under attack by several improvised explosive devices (IEDs), though they caused no casualties, according to a statement given to Al-Noor News by the Iraqi Prime Minister's Security Media Cell.
