© ERS / ALAA AL-MARJAN
The Pentagon claimed earlier it had carried out "defensive strikes" against five Kata'ib Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria in an alleged response to a rocket attack on Friday that killed a US contractor at a Kirkuk base north of Baghdad.
The airstrike by the United States on Shiite militias is a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and
might provoke Baghdad to revise its attitude toward the international coalition, the Iraqi National Security Council said in a statement on Monday.
"The Iraqi government
condemns these actions and considers them a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and a serious abuse of the working norms of the international coalition forces, including American troops, who are single-handedly conducting operations
without the consent of the Iraqi government", the statement said.
The council said the US acted out of its own interests and conclusions, undermining Iraq's priorities.
"This attack, contrary to the goals and principles for which the international coalition was created,
is pushing Iraq to revise its relations [with the coalition] and working methods in legal and political aspects and in terms of security, in order to protect the sovereignty of the country, its security, the lives of citizens and strengthen mutual interests", the statement stressed.
Comment: How to make friends and influence people? Apparently
not!
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Monday that Iraq and the PMF have the right to respond to the recent airstrike carried out by US forces inside the territories of Iraq against the Kata'ib Hezbollah.
"The airstrikes by the American terrorists on Hashd al-Sha'abi bases [...] constitute a violation of the national sovereignty of [Iraq] and once again show that the US is the main factor behind insecurity, chaos, tension and warmongering in this region," the IRGC said in a statement, according to Press TV.
"Naturally, the brave people and heroic Hashd al-Sha'bi forces of Iraq reserve the right to retaliate and give [proportionate] response to the recent big crime of Americans, according to international laws and conventions," according to the statement.
See also:
UPDATE 1st January 2020 @ 16:21 CETIraq's PM has
warned that acts of violence against embassies will be punished:
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has issued a statement urging protesters to stay away from all diplomatic buildings in Baghdad, after demonstrators stormed the fortified compound housing the US embassy.
The prime minister said that any aggression or act of violence against foreign diplomats or their staff would be punished.
Spurred by anger over US airstrikes targeting a Hezbollah militia in the country, demonstrators on Tuesday managed to force their way into part of the heavily-fortified Green Zone, setting fires and destroying doors and security cameras around the embassy.
© REUTERS/Thaier al-SudaniHashd al-Shaabi (paramilitary forces) fighters set the U.S. Embassy wall on fire as they protest to condemn air strikes on their bases, in Baghdad, Iraq December 31, 2019.
More on the ongoing demonstrations from RT:
Protesters were seen waving Hezbollah flags and chanting anti-US slogans in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday. According to reports, demonstrators were able to gain access to parts of the heavily fortified Green Zone, and attempted to break into the US Embassy. Security guards were said to have retreated into the US government building. A correspondent for the BBC noted that it appeared that the protesters were able to pass several checkpoints without being resisted by security personnel.
Though initial reports sugested US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew H. Tueller, was evacuated due to the unrest, the State Department later added that the embassy remained secure, and nobody had been evacuated.
One video shows parts of the US compound being set on fire.
Earlier, protesters were filmed burning US and Israeli flags.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi strongly condemned the airstrikes, warning that the attacks would have "grave consequences."
Trump puts the
blame on the attacks
and the demonstrations on Iran, declaring that it was a 'strong response' to the death of an American contractor, but, as noted above, Iran denies any involvement:
President Donald Trump has blamed Iran for bombing a coalition base and orchestrating the storming of the US Embassy in Baghdad, as Iraqis rage at American airstrikes on militias in the country.
"Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many," the president tweeted on Tuesday. "We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the US Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible."
The strikes were condemned by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who called them a violation of sovereignty and threatened "grave consequences." Tehran called them an "act of terrorism," while a number of Shia clerics and militia leaders joined in the condemnation.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stuck to the same anti-Iran line as Trump, decrying the "Iranian proxy attack" on the Kirkuk base, and accusing "Iranian backed groups" of threatening the embassy.
Iran has denied ordering attacks on US troops in Iraq, and is not known to be behind the embassy protests.
In criticizing the US airstrikes, Mahdi accused Washington of acting out its own anti-Iran agenda on Iraqi soil. The country's National Security Council added that policing its military bases is the sole responsibility of the Iraqi armed forces, not the US.
Controlling militias like Kataib Hezbollah and its allies in the 'Popular Mobilization Forces' has proven difficult for Mahdi's government though. Officially sanctioned to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) forces in 2014, elements of these militia groups have resisted being brought under the Iraqi military's command, leaving Mahdi condemning both the militias' actions and the US' response.
Though Mahdi urged protesters to stay away from the embassy, Trump added on Tuesday that "we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!"
Comment: The Guardian writes: