Iraq’s capital Baghdad rocked by powerful blasts near US embassy

The attacks are part of an escalating cycle of violence between US forces and Iraqi groups aligned with Tehran.Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, has been rocked by a series of explosions close to the United States Embassy in the city’s heavily fortified Green Zone as the rapidly escalating US-Israeli war on Iran continued to spill over the border.“We’ve had drone activity here in Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the US embassy is located … and we understand that two drones [were] intercepted, while the third disappeared off radar,” said Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from the capital on Tuesday night.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Four killed in Iraq’s Baghdad as US forces, Iran-backed groups trade firelist 2 of 3US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq attacked with missile that hits helipadlist 3 of 3Four killed in US military plane crash in Iraqend of listSecurity sources told the Reuters news agency that at least three explosive drones also targeted a US diplomatic facility near Baghdad-international-airport" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="39176" data-entity-type="location">Baghdad International Airport, activating C-RAM air defence systems.Baig said he heard a series of loud explosions and that debris had fallen across the city, causing “damage to windows and infrastructure” in a university compound in the neighbourhood of al-Dura.A fire also broke out near the Central Bank in the al-Jadriyah district, where “debris from an aerial object” had fallen close to the building’s main gates, said Baig, citing Iraqi authorities.There were no immediate reports of casualties from Tuesday’s attacks, which are part of an escalating cycle of violence between US forces and Iraqi armed groups aligned with Tehran.The violence came a day after four people were killed in an air raid on a building used as a headquarters by the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which includes several groups aligned with Iran. The building reportedly hosted Iranian advisers.The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of mostly Shia paramilitary factions, which was founded in 2014 to stop lightning advances by the ISIL (ISIS) group, and has now been formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces.