The Donald Trump administration announced on Tuesday it was sending 750 soldiers to the Middle East hours after a pro-Iranian mob attempted to storm its embassy in Iraq.
The mob, comprising hundreds of people, set fire to the entrance of the US embassy compound in Baghdad. The attack was in retaliation for US air strikes on an Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq and Syria on Sunday. The mob voiced loyalty to Qasem Soleimani, a general with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and sought the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the attack on the US embassy compound was "orchestrated by terrorists”. Pompeo referred to one of these terrorists as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary outfit. One of the constituents of Hashed al-Shaabi is the Kataib Hezbollah, the group that was targeted by the US air strikes. The attacks on the Kataib Hezbollah hideouts in Iraq and Syria came after the group was held responsible for multiple rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq in recent months.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper described the planned deployment of 750 troops as “an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today”. The US had deployed a rapid response team of Marines to Baghdad after the embassy attack. An official told AFP that up to 4,000 US troops could be deployed to the Middle East soon.
US President Donald Trump warned Iran of consequences over the attack on the US embassy. "Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities," Trump said on Twitter. "They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a warning, it is a threat," added Trump.
The nature of the attack on Tuesday alarmed US State Department and Defense officials who demanded that the Iraqi government boost security for its embassy complex.
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AFP reported that while some of the pro-Iranian protesters had dispersed, others had camped near the US embassy for a prolonged agitation to seek withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.
Iran blamed the US for the incident. "The surprising audacity of American officials is so much that after killing at least 25 (in the air strikes)... and violating the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, that now... they attribute the Iraqi people's protest against their cruel acts to the Islamic Republic of Iran," said foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.
