Attacks Targeting US Diplomats, Soldiers in Iraq, Syria Carry Iranian Fingerprints

The US Embassy in Baghdad and American troops stationed in Iraq and Syria have come under repeated rocket and drone attacks over the past four days and all eyes are on Iran as the likely culprit in what appears to be a coordinated escalation by its proxy militias across the region. Early on Thursday, two rockets were fired at the embassy, located in Baghdad’s Green Zone. No injuries were reported. This follows the firing of at least 14 rockets on Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq on Wednesday in an attack that injured two people – reportedly, US military personnel. Also on Wednesday, the primarily Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces repelled drone attacks near a base used by forces of the US-led coalition battling ISIS. On Tuesday, a US base at Erbil airport in northern Iraq came under drone fire. And three rockets hit Ain al-Asad airbase on Monday. Iran has denied all involvement in the spree of anti-American attacks, which come at a sensitive time in the negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.