Dozens of Iraqi protesters stormed the US embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday Dec 31st, smashing the main door, and setting fire to the reception area after US Military launched attacks on Iran backed Kataib Hezbollah, killing 25 suspected terrorists as retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base .
The protesters marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking until they reached the embassy.
Protesters were also seen hanging yellow flags belonging to the Kataib Hezbollah on the walls of the Embassy as they approached.
After the protesters broke the main door, tear gas was launched into the Embassy area by police, and gunfire was exchanged as Iraqi police guarding the Embassy left their duty posts, while the US Ambassador to Iraq was evacuated from the building.
Earlier during the day hundreds of protesters gathered outside the US embassy to decry US air attacks in Iraq and Syria .
The protesters shouted “Down, Down USA!” as they hurled water bottles and smashed security cameras outside the embassy grounds.
Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi,on hearing of the attempted attacks on the embassy, called on the protesters to leave the compound “immediately”.
“We recall that any aggression or harassment of foreign embassies will be firmly prohibited by the security forces,” Abdul Mahdi’s office said several hours after the attack began.
