Rockets Fired at Baghdad’s Int’l Airport, No Casualties

Three Katyusha rockets landed on the outskirts of the international airport in the capital Baghdad on Wednesday, according to Iraq’s military. The rockets caused no casualties or damage, but at least one came to ground near the airport’s military section and a base being used to host US troops. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, although in the past, similar attacks, including mortar fire that hit the US Embassy in Baghdad, were blamed on Iraqi militias aligned with Iran. Tensions between the US and Iran spiked in January when an American drone killed Qasem Soleimani, a senior Iranian general in charge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, just after he landed at the same airport. The drone attack also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top leader of the pro-Iran militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which are seen as doing some of Tehran’s bidding inside both Iraq and Syria. Wednesday’s rockets were fired from what is described as a rural area about four miles northeast of the airport. The Iraqi military said it had retrieved a launcher and a timing mechanism, though it was not clear whether it held an additional rocket.