BAGHDAD (AP) — Angered by deadly airstrikes targeting an Iran-backed militia, dozens of Iraqi Shiite
militiamen and their supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday, smashing a
main door and setting fire to a reception area in one of the worst attacks on the embassy in recent
memory.
American guards fired tear gas, and palls of smoke rose over the embassy grounds.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and U.S. soldiers on
the roof of the main embassy building with their guns pointed at protesters.
A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying, "The message was
delivered."
There were no reports of casualties. The State Department said all American personnel were safe and that
there were no plans to evacuate the embassy. The government planned to send more troops to protect the
compound.
The breach followed U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq,
the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of
an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the U.S. blamed on the militia.

President Donald Trump blamed Iran for the embassy breach and called on Iraq to protect the diplomatic
mission.
"Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran
is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In
addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!" he tweeted
from his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
By early evening, the protesters had retreated from the compound but set up several tents outside where
they said they intended to stage a sit-in. Dozens of yellow flags belonging to Iran-backed Shiite
militias fluttered atop the reception area and were plastered along the embassy’s concrete wall along
with anti-U.S. graffiti. American Apache helicopters flew overhead and dropped flares over the area.
Trump, who is spending the holiday week at his Florida home, is in "close touch" and receiving
regular updates from his national security team, said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. She
echoed the sentiment contained in Trump’s tweet earlier Tuesday.
"As the president said, Iran is orchestrating this attack, and they will be held fully
responsible," Grisham said in an emailed statement. "It will be the president’s choice how and
when we respond to their escalation."
The developments also represent a major downturn in Iraq-U.S. relations that could further undermine U.S.
influence in the region and American troops in Iraq and weaken Washington’s hand in its pressure
campaign against Iran.
Iraq has long struggled to balance its ties with the U.S. and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government.
But the government’s angry reaction to the U.S. airstrikes and its apparent decision not to prevent the
protesters from reaching the embassy signaled a sharp deterioration of U.S.-Iraq relations.
Iraqi security forces made no effort to stop the protesters as they marched to the heavily fortified
Green Zone after a funeral for those killed in the airstrikes. The demonstrators were allowed to pass
through a security checkpoint leading to the area.
The marchers, many of them in militia uniforms, shouted "Down, down USA!" and "Death to
America" and "Death to Israel" outside the compound, hurling water and stones over its
walls. The mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the wall. AP journalists saw
some try to scale the walls.
Others then smashed the gates used by cars to enter, and dozens pushed into the compound. The protesters
stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main
building.
The sprawling embassy compound enjoys a prominent position on the banks of the Tigris River in the heart
of the Iraqi capital. Resembling a fortified college campus, the complex is rimmed with thick blast
walls and cylindrical watch towers, lending it the look of a modern-day castle.
Gates visitors use to enter the complex consist of an airlock-like vestibule fortified with heavy doors
and bulletproof glass. Even if protesters breached the first set of doors, they would have to force past
heavily armed military contractors and U.S. Marine guards and a second set of heavy doors before
entering the main compound.
Numerous buildings are inside the walls, including dormitories for staff, well-stocked dining and
recreation facilities, and a power station.
The protesters taunted the embassy’s security staff, which remained behind glass windows in the gates’
reception area. They hung a poster on the wall declaring "America is an aggressor" and sprayed
graffiti on the wall and windows reading, "Closed in the name of the resistance."
"This is a victory in retaliation to the American airstrike. This is the initial retaliation, God
willing, there will be more," said Mahmoud, a fighter with the Imam Ali Brigades who was carrying a
black bag filled with electricity cables that he said he took from the reception area.
A video obtained by the AP showed militiamen trashing the reception area and taking away paperwork.
The embassy, on its Facebook page, urged American citizens not to approach the compound and "to
review their personal security and emergency preparedness."
An Iraqi employee at the embassy told the AP that the embassy’s security team had evacuated some local
staff from a rear gate while others left by helicopters and the rest remained inside "safe"
areas within the embassy. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because of not being authorized
to speak to journalists.
The U.S. ambassador was traveling outside Iraq at the time of the attack and planned to return, the State
Department said.
Some commanders of militia factions loyal to Iran joined the protesters outside the embassy in a
strikingly bold move. Among them was Qais al-Khizali, the head of one of the most powerful
Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq who is on a U.S. terror list, and Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the
state-sanctioned paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units, the umbrella group for the Iran-backed
militias.
Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for Kataeb Hezbollah, said the protesters had no intention of storming
the embassy. He told the AP that the sit-in will continue "until American troops leave Iraq and the
embassy is closed."
The U.S. airstrikes — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the
subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the
U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East.
The attack also outraged the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the
U.S.-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some
U.S. troops in the country. It called the attack a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in West Palm Beach, Florida, Adam Schreck in Chicago, Samya
Kullab in New York and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.