Another airstrike in Iraq

The US is denying responsibility.

The fact that a convoy of cars was attacked north of Baghdad became known on the night of January 4. It was a question of ten dead, with reports that the hit was in the area of ​​the Taj Stadium. Reports, citing a statement by the Shiite militia Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, wrote that physicians were moving in cars, and reports of the deaths of militia leaders were untrue.

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“The medical convoy in Taji was not affected by the US air strike,” the Iraq report said.

Alles Europa news reports that Iraqi armed forces also deny the American coalition’s attacks on a medical convoy of doctors in the Taji area.

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This was stated by Colonel Miles Cuggins, the official representative of the headquarters of Operation Unshakable Determination, on Twitter .

“In recent days, the coalition has not launched air strikes near the Taji camp north of Baghdad,” the report said.

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The attack killed 10 people.

  Alles Europa

On one hand Iraqi state televisions said the airstrikes had taken place and that they were carried out by the US coalition. Both Iraq’s umbrella grouping of Shia militias and the Popular Mobilisation Forces also accused the US over latest strike in Iraq.

  See Latest

On Saturday evening, two loud blasts were heard in Baghdad, Reuters witnesses said. Police sources said a Katyusha rocket landed near the U.S. embassy inside the city’s heavily fortified Green Zone but caused no casualties.

With security worries rising after Friday’s strike, the NATO alliance and a separate U.S.-led mission suspended their programs to train Iraqi security and armed forces, officials said.

“The safety of our personnel in Iraq is paramount. We continue to take all precautions necessary,” acting NATO spokesman Dylan White said in a statement.

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France stepped up diplomatic initiatives on Saturday to ease tensions in the Middle East. French President Emmanuel Macron talked with Iraq President Barham Salih, Macron’s office said.

“The two presidents agreed to remain in close contact to avoid any further escalation in tensions and in order to act to ensure stability in Iraq and the broader region,” a statement from Macron’s office said.

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Gholamali Abuhamzeh, a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said Tehran would punish Americans “wherever they are in reach”, and raised the prospect of possible attacks on ships in the Gulf.

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Abuhamzeh, the Revolutionary Guards commander in Kerman province, mentioned a series of possible targets for reprisals including the Gulf waterway through which about a third of the world’s shipborne oil is exported to global markets.

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there,” Abuhamzeh was quoted as saying on Friday evening by the semi-official news agency Tasnim.

“Vital American targets in the region have long since been identified by Iran ... Some 35 U.S. targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach,” he said, referring to Israel’s largest city.

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The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urged American citizens to leave Iraq. Dozens of American employees of foreign oil companies left the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday.

  Reuters