The U.S. embassy in the Green Zone of Bagdhad, Iraq, was attacked on 31 December 2019 by Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen and their Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) supporters and sympathizers. The attack was prompted by the U.S. airstrikes on 29 December 2019 that targeted weapons depots and command and control installations of Kata'ib Hezbollah across Iraq and Syria.
The attack occurred amidst the backdrop of the 2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis, leading the United States to blame Iran and its non-state allies in Iraq for orchestrating the attack, which Iran denied. The U.S. responded by sending hundreds of additional troops to the Persian Gulf region, including approximately 100 U.S. Marines to reinforce security at the Baghdad embassy. No deaths or serious injuries occurred during the attack and protesters never breached the main compound.
Background
On 27 December 2019, an Iraqi airbase in Kirkuk province was attacked with rockets, killing an American civilian contractor and injuring four U.S. service members and two Iraqi security forces personnel. The U.S. blamed the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia, a subgroup of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), for the attack.
On 29 December 2019, retaliatory U.S. airstrikes targeted five Kata'ib Hezbollah —and therefore PMF— weapon storage facilities and command and control locations in Iraq and Syria. At least 25 militia members reportedly died and at least 55 were wounded. Iraq's Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi condemned the airstrikes while U.S. special envoy Brian Hook said the strikes were a message directed at Iran.
Attack
Mob attack
On 31 December 2019, after a funeral was held for the Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen that were killed by the prior U.S. airstrikes, an angry mob of dozens of Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters marched through the perimeters of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, marched down Kindi Street, and surrounded an entrance to the U.S. embassy compound. According to the Associated Press, Iraqi security forces did not attempt to stop the mob and permitted them to pass a security checkpoint.
The mob began taunting the security personnel of the embassy reception area's front gatehouse checkpoint near the embassy's parking lot and chanting "down, down USA", "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". They scaled and threw stones and water bottles over the walls and attacked gates, windows, and doors with makeshift rams. Dozens of the demonstrators then smashed through a main door of the checkpoint, set fire to the reception area, raised PMF militia flags and anti-American posters and sprayed anti-American graffiti. Video of the demonstration reportedly also showed militiamen ransacking the reception area and seizing paperwork. Security staff withdrew to the embassy; there was no immediate comment from the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department on the situation. U.S. ambassador to Iraq Matt Tueller was not at the embassy at the time and was away on previously scheduled "personal travel".
As the fire broke out, an AP reporter on the scene observed at least half a dozen U.S. Marine Security Guardsmen and Diplomatic Security Service personnel on the roof of the main embassy building with their guns trained on the intruders, many of whom were wearing militia uniforms; the intruders stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were about 200 meters away from the main embassy building. There were also reports of tear gas being deployed to disperse the intruders as at least three protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. The mob subsequently set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy compound's wall. Reportedly, a man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: "The message was delivered." Some commanders from Iranian-backed Iraqi militia factions began joining the protesters, including chief of the Badr Organization and PMF commander Hadi al-Amiri and leader of the Iranian-backed "Special Groups" paramilitary collective Qais Khazali. Iraq's interior minister Yassine al-Yasseri was also briefly at the scene, calling the situation "...embarrassing to the [Iraqi] government."