Pro-Iran demonstrators left the besieged US embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday after the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force ordered them to withdraw a day after their dramatic incursion. Outraged by US air strikes that killed 25 Hashed fighters over the weekend, thousands of Iraqi supporters of the largely Iranian-trained Hashed had encircled and vandalised the embassy compound on Tuesday. US forces have faced a spate of rocket attacks in recent months, blaming them on pro-Iran Hashed factions. Last week, one of those attacks killed a US contractor, prompting the retaliatory US air strikes that killed 25 fighters from Kataeb Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades). President Donald Trump and other US officials have blamed Iran for attacks on US forces and the embassy.

Source: Punch January 01, 2020 14:37 UTC