Hundreds of Iranian-backed activists stormed the US Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Iraqi security forces failed to stop the siege of the US Embassy.
The Iraqi protesters were carrying Hezbollah flags.
The US ambassador and personnel were evacuated.
U.S. ambassador to Iraq and other staff were evacuated from their embassy in #Baghdad for their safety, Iraqi officials said, as thousands of protesters denounce U.S. air strikes https://t.co/vLMPRnsRzX pic.twitter.com/ceKbSI0zGl
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 31, 2019
UPDATE— The Iranian-backed “protesters” scrawled, “Qassem Soleimani is our leader” on the US embassy wall. Soleimani is the leader of Iran’s Qods Force. He built the Iraqi militias.
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1212002901972934656
Qassem Soleimani is leader of the Iranian al-Quds Force -— a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations.
The leader of pro-Iranian Shiite militias is at the protests today.
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1212005591155191808
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, founder and leader of Kata’ib Hizballah.
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1212012370081599488
Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, a pro-Iranian militia.
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1212018144178507777
Qais Khazali, served as a spokesman for the rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, in Iraq for years.
Qais Khazali, seen in a 2004 photo, has been a spokesman for radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the past. (CNN)
English-speaking Iraqi terrorists, linked to Khazali, kidnapped and murdered 5 US soldiers near Karbala in January 2007.
Today Khazali is at the violent protests at the US Embassy in Baghdad.
https://twitter.com/Kianoosh_sa1/status/1212039805867044865
Asaeb Ahl al-Haq chief Qais al-Khazali
Heads of #Iran-backed militias among the crowd outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
-Asaeb Ahl al-Haq chief Qais al-Khazali
-Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF) chief Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes
-Badr Corps chief Hadi al-AmeriAnd Iraqi National Security Advisor Falih Alfayyadh, very close to Tehran pic.twitter.com/Bqj5CNbtQj
— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) December 31, 2019
Today’s marches are led by Badr Corps head, Hadi al-Amiri, and AAH’s head, Qais al-Khazali.
Security sources say “ISF lost the control over the Green Zone, and failed to stop storming it by marchers.”#IraqJournal pic.twitter.com/Aug1YLD2FI
— Iraq Journal (@iraq_journal) December 31, 2019
Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, and many other senior leaders were among the protesters.
“Americans are unwanted in Iraq. They are a source of evil and we want them to leave,” Khazali told Reuters. https://t.co/P7PHhTFsqj— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) December 31, 2019