Baghdad: Several exasperated protesters broke into a guarded compound of the United States Embassy, also known to be the world's largest, in Baghdad on Tuesday and set fires inside the compound. This happened over the US airstrikes that had killed 25 members of an Iranian-backed militia.
However, the protesters did not enter the main embassy building and joined thousands of protesters outside the compound and chanted "Death to America." The protesters even resorted to pelting rocks and also covered the walls with graffiti as a demand that US withdraw its forces from Iraq.
As the protests led to death of 25 people, US President Donald Trump tweeted, "....Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!"
As quoted by the New York Times, speaking about a possibilty of war, Trump said “I don’t think that would be a good idea for Iran,” adding, “I want to have peace, I like peace. And Iran should want peace more than anybody.”
An Iranian-backed militia said on Monday that the death toll from US military strikes in Iraq and Syria against its fighters has risen to 25, vowing to exact revenge for the "aggression of evil American ravens."
The announcement in Baghdad came a day after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Washington had carried out military strikes targeting the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor in Iraq last week. He also said that around 750 additional US troops will be deployed in the region.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strikes send the message that the US will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives. The US military said "precision defensive strikes" were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria.
"Our battle with America and its mercenaries is now open to all possibilities," Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement around midnight Sunday.
"We have no alternative today other than confrontation and there is nothing that will prevent us from responding to this crime." The US blames the militia for a rocket barrage on Friday that killed a US defense contractor at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.
