By John Bacon — USA TODAY — An uneasy calm enveloped the U.S. Embassy in Iraq on Thursday as new images from the scene revealed extensive damage following days of sometimes violent protests by Iranian-backed militia members and their supporters. The photos show a burned and charred reception area, smashed windows and vandalized rooms left behind by supporters and members of the Iranian-trained Hashed al-Shaabi military network, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, and the embassy was not evacuated.

 

The Pentagon sent hundreds of troops to the region, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would delay a trip to Central Asia and Europe to focus on the “the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security” of Americans there. “We’ll continue cooperation (with Iraq) to hold Iran and its proxies responsible,” Pompeo said. The embassy protest erupted Tuesday, two days after U.S. airstrikes killed at least two dozen Iran-backed fighters in Iraq.Demonstrators shouting “Death to America!” smashed their way into the embassy compound and set fire to a reception area as U.S. combat helicopters swooped over the complex. Militia leaders with the Popular Mobilization Forces ultimately ordered supporters to retreat, declaring the demonstration a win in the battle to expel U.S. troops from Iraq. “After achieving the intended aim, we pulled out from this place triumphantly,” said Fadhil al-Gezzi, a militia supporter. “We rubbed America’s nose in the dirt.” Protests are nothing new in Baghdad, but most have targeted the Iraqi government and what Sunni Iraqis view as meddling by Iran’s Shiite government.

 

James Piazza, a Penn State political science professor specializing in the Islamic world, said the clashes underscore the struggle in Iraq between the Shiite majority – long oppressed under Saddam Hussein – and Sunnis who make up about one-third of the nation of 40 million people. “The PMF has vowed further acts of revenge against the U.S. for the airstrikes,” Piazza told USA TODAY. “It may become impossible for the Iraqi government to balance Sunnis and Shiites.” Kirsten Fontenrose, former senior director for Gulf affairs at the National Security Council, said Iraqis should demand their government not follow the political path Iran has taken. “It’s up to Iraqis who see a different future for themselves, to demand that their government rein in actors who want to impose on them this very un-Iraqi plan for the country,” Fontenrose said. “They can’t expect Americans to remain in the country as targets while the remnants of their government enable Iran’s thugs.” Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-born activist now based in Washington, D.C., said most Iraqis want an end to all foreign intervention. Jarrar said the embassy protest was clearly orchestrated by the Iran-backed militia, but that the U.S. should not respond by escalating its proxy war against Iran in Iraq. “The U.S. and Iran are seen by the majority of Iraqis as partners in crime when it comes to supporting these sectarian militias,” Jarrar said. “The right move is to de-escalate, withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq, and end U.S. military aid to the Iraqi government and its deadly sectarian militias.”

Pompeo defended the airstrikes as a “decisive response” to weeks of militia rocket attacks targeting Iraqi bases that host U.S. troops, including one Friday that killed a U.S. contractor. Sunday’s “defensive” airstrikes targeted three sites in Iraq and two in Syria that included weapon storage facilities and command and control locations, the Pentagon said. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said 750 soldiers were immediately deployed the region. At Fort Bragg in North Carolina, hundreds of paratroopers boarded C-17 aircraft as part as the Immediate Response Force. Esper said additional soldiers from the force are prepared to deploy over the next several days. “The United States will protect our people and interests anywhere they are found around the world,” Esper said. President Donald Trump, on Twitter, accused Iran of orchestrating the embassy violence and warned that Iran “will pay a very BIG PRICE!”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed allegations of Iranian involvement. Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, was unmoved by Trump’s warning of repercussions. “Firstly, you can’t do a damn thing since this issue is not related to Iran, and secondly, you should be logical and come to find the root causes,” General Salami said in Tehran. “The Americans should come to realize that people in the region, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, hate them for their crimes and this hatred surfaces somewhere.” Contributing: Grace Hauck, USA TODAY; Rachael Riley, Fayetteville Observer; The Associated Press